THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE 

OR 

PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 
AS EXHIBITED IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE 

OR 

PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 

AS EXHIBITED IN 

THE ACTS OP THE APOSTLES. 



By WILLIAM ARNOT 

MINISTER OF THE FREE CHURCH IN EDINBURGH ; 

AUTHOR OF "LAWS FROM HEAVEN FOR LIFE ON EARTH," " THE PARABLES OF 
OUR LORD," "LIFE OF JAMES HAMILTON," ETC. 



LONDON: 

JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET, W. 
1 8 7 5. 



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change 
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(Ptrinbursf) 23nftmsttg ^rrss: 

T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY. 



PKEFATOKY NOTE. 

The form of these lessons, as the leading title implies, has 
been in some measure determined by a view to their use in 
families on the evening of the Lord's Day ; but this considera- 
tion has not been permitted to influence the substance of the 
exposition. Although neither processes of criticism nor re- 
ferences to authorities have been exhibited, readers will find 
here the results of the most careful study which the writer has 
been able to bestow upon this portion of the Divine Eecord. 
According to the example exhibited in the Scriptures, exposi- 
tions of doctrine and exhortations for practice have been freely 
intermingled. The distinctive characteristic of the volume, at 
least in the aim of the Author, is the union of a critical 
examination of the text with a frank enforcement of its lessons, 
as they bear on our own times and our own circumstances. 

W. A. 



Edixeuegh, 1875. 



CONTENTS. 



I. THE GOSPEL AND THE ACTS . 
Acts i. 1. 

II. FINAL INSTRUCTIONS .... 
Acts i. 2-7. 

III. WITNESSES 

Acts i. 8. 

IV. THE ASCENSION 

Liike-xxiv. 50-52. 

V. WAITING AND PRAYING 

Acts i. 9-14. 

VI. THE SPIRIT AT PENTECOST . 
Acts ii. 1-4. 

VII. THE TONGUES OF FIRE 
Acts ii. 4. 

VIII. THE SEED OF THE WORD IS SPREAD 
Acts ii. 5-11. 

IX. MISSIONS 

Acts ii. 12. 

X. AN APOSTLE PREACHES 
Acts ii. 14. 

XL RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH 
Acts ii. 37-40. 

II. CHRISTIAN FESTIVITY .... 
Acts ii. 46. 

III. AT ONCE GODLY AND POPULAR 
Acts ii. 47. 

IV. THE USE OF MIRACLES .... 
Acts iii. 12, 13. 



V. WOUNDING TO HEAL 
Acts iii. 14-26. 



viii 



Contents. 



XVI. 
XVII. 
XVIII. 
XIX. 

xx. 

XXI. 
XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 
XXVII. 
XXVIII. 
XXIX. 
XXX. 
XXXI. 
XXXII. 



THE FIEST PERSECUTION . 
Acts iv. 1-4. 

ADD TO YOUR FAITH, COURAGE . 
Acts iv. 7-13. 

EVERY CREATURE AFTER ITS KIND 
Acts iv. 23. 

THE PRAYER OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
Acts iv. 24-29. 

POWER TO BE WITNESSES . 
Acts iv. 31-35. 

A SON OF CONSOLATION . 
Acts iv. 36, 37. 



THE BEACON 
Acts v. 1-10. 



ANANIAS 



AFTER JUDGMENT, REVIVAL 
Acts v. 11-14. 

HOW THE SEED GREW 
Acts v. 17-26. 

AGAIN AT THE BAR . 
Acts v. 27-29. 

EXALTED TO GIVE . 
Acts v. 30, 31. 

GAMALIEL 
Acts v. 33-42. 

THE DEACONS . 
Acts vi. 1-6. 

TROUBLES BEARING BLESSED FRUITS 
Acts vi. 7-15. 

STEPHEN'S TESTIMONY 
Acts vii. 

STEPHEN'S DEATH .... 
Acts vii. 60. 

THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS 
INCREASE OF THE CHURCH 
Acts viii. 1-4. 



THE 



XXXIII. PHILIP PREACHING IN A SAMARITAN CITY 
Acts viii. 5. 



Contents. 



XXXIV. FRUIT— JOY . . . . 
Acts viii. 6-8. 

XXXV. SENT TO THE DESERT .... 
Acts viii. 26. 

XXXVI. A MAN OF ETHIOPIA .... 
Acts viii. 27, 28. 

XXXVII. THE MEETING 

Acts viii. 29. 

XXXVIII. THE SEED SOWN AND THE HARVEST REAPED 
Acts viii. 30-39. 

XXXIX. SAUL 

Acts ix. 1-3. 

XL. THE LORD'S WORD— CONSOLATION . 
Acts ix. 4. 

XLI. THE LORD'S WORD— REPROOF . 
Acts ix. 4. 

XLII. THE ENEMY SURRENDERS 
Acts ix. 5-14. 

XLIII. THE VESSEL CHOSEN AND CHARGED . 
Acts ix. 15. 

' XLIV. THE VESSEL EMPLOYED . . . 
Acts ix. 15. 

XLV. THE LORD REIGNETH . . 
Acts ix. 15. 

XLVI. SAUL'S FIRST EXPERIENCES AS A CHRISTIAN 
Acts ix. 22-31. 

XLVII. DORCAS . 

Acts ix. 36-42. 

XLVIII. A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES 
Acts x. 

XLIX. SAVED BY THE WORD .... 
Acts xi. 14. 

L. THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE . 
Ac,ts xi. 14. 

LI. PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 
Acts xi. 19-21. 

LII. THE GRACE THAT BARNABAS SAW . 
Acts xi. 23. 



X 



Contents. 



LIH. THE GLADNESS THAT BARNABAS EXPERIENCED 
Acts xi. 23. 

LIV. THE EXHORTATION THAT BARNABAS GAVE . 
Acts xi. 23. 



LV. BABNABAS AND SAUL AT ANTIOCH 
Acts xi. 24-30. 

LVI. HEROD VEXES THE CHURCH 
Acts xii. 1-8. 

LVIL ANTIOCH OCCUPIED FOR CHRIST 
Acts xii. 20-25 ; xiii. 1. 

LVIII. THE FIRST FOREIGN MISSION.— CYPRUS 
Acts xiii. 2-12. 

LIX. THE GOSPEL IN ASIA MINOR 
Acts xiii. 13-52. 

LX. ONCE WAS I STONED 
Acts xiv. 1-21. 

LXI. THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION . 
Acts xiv. 22. 

LXI1. THE MISSIONARIES RETURN TO ANTIOCH 
Acts xiv. 23-28. 

LXIII. THE COUNCIL OF JEURSALEM 
Acts xv. 

LXIV. THE GOSPEL INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE 
Acts xvi. 8-13. 

LXV. LYDIA . 

Acts xvi. 14, 15. 

LXVI. THE PYTHONESS 
Acts xvi. 16-24. 

LXVII. SONGS IN THE NIGHT 
Acts xvi. 25. 

LXVIII. THE JAILER 

Acts xvi. 26-31. 

LXIX. FAITH AND OBEDIENCE 
Acts xvi. 31-40. 

LXX. " MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD 
Acts xvii. 1-9. 



PAGE 

263 



Contents. 



xi 



PAGE 

LXXI. BEREAN NOBILITY 350 

Acts xvii. 10, 11. 

LXXII. SOME AN HUNDREDFOLD . . . 356 

Acts xvii. 12. 

LXXIII. PAUL'S ARRIVAL AT ATHENS. . . .361 
Acts xvii. 14-16. 

LXXIV. A CITY GIVEN TO IDOLATRY . . .366 

Acts xvii. 16. 

LXXV. THE PHILOSOPHERS 369 

Acts xvii. 17, 18. 

LXXVI. ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN . . . .374 
Acts xvii. 22-31. 

LXXVII. SOME FELL ON THE WAYSIDE, SOME ON GOOD 

GROUND . . . . . . . 379 

^Acts xvii. 32-34. 

LXXVIII. THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD . 386 
Acts xviii. 1-9. 

LXXIX. THE MISSIONARY AND THE GOVERNOR . . 391 
Acts xviii. 9-17. 

LXXX. PAUL AND APOLLOS . . . .395 

Acts xviii. 18-28. 

LXXXI. CONVINCING AND PERSUADING . . .400 
Acts xix. 8. 

LXXXII. THE STRONG MAN CAST OUT BY THE STRONGER 406 
Acts xix. 9-17. 

LXXXIII. THE TWO DIMENSIONS,— BREADTH AND DEPTH 410 
Acts xix. 20. 

LXXXIV. THE UPROAR IN EPHESUS . . . .416 
Acts xix. 21-41. 

LXXXV. A COMMUNION SABBATH AT TROAS . . 421 
Acts xx. 1-12. 

LXXXVI. PAUL'S ADDRESS TO THE ELDERS OF EPHESUS 427 
Acts xx. 13-30. 

LXXXVII. THE LARGER BLESSING, AND THE LESS . . 432 
Acts xx. 35. 

LXXXVIII. THE HIGH PRIEST INSULTING PAUL . . 440 
Acts xxiii. 1, 2. 



xii 



Contents. 



LXXXIX. PAUL ANSWERING THE HIGH PRIEST . 446 

Acts xxiii. 3-11. 

XC. COMPASSED WITH HIS FAVOUR AS^ WITH A 

SHIELD 451 

Acts xxiii. 12-35. 

XCI. THE PARTIES AT THE BAR . . . .455 
Acts xxiv. 1-23. 

XCII. PAUL AND FELIX 459 

Acts xxiv. 24, 25. 

XCIII. CONVICTIONS RESISTED BEAR NO GOOD FRUIT . 485 
Acts xxiv. 26, 27. 

XCIV. THE NEW GOVERNOR . . . . .469 
Acts xxv. 

XCV. THE GOSPEL FULFILS THE LAW . . .475 

Acts xxvi. 1-16. 

XCVI. KNOWING THE TRUE, AND DOING THE RIGHT . 479 
Acts xxvi. 18. 



XCVII. SOBERNESS . 

Acts xxvi. 25. 

XCVIII. THE UPPER CLASSES 
Acts xxvi. 25. 

XCIX. THE VOYAGE . 

Acts xxvii. 1-25. 

C. IN THE STORM 

Acts xxvii. 24-37. 



1-10. 



484 



494 



504 
508 



CI. ALL SAVED . 

Acts xxvii. 33-44 ; xxviii. 

OIL THE MEETING 

Acts xxviii. 11-15. 

CHI. GRATITUDE AND FORTITUDE . . . .513 
Acts xxviii. 15, 16. 

CIV. PAUL IN ROME . 518 
Acts xxviii. 17-22. 

CV. CLOSING GLIMPSES . 

Acts xxviii. 23-31. 



THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE: 



OR 

PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY AS EXHIBITED IN THE ACTS OF 
THE APOSTLES. 



I.— THE GOSPEL AND THE ACTS. 

" The former treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both 
to do and teach."— Acts i. 1. 

IN determining the relation which subsists between the 
evangelic histories and the Book of the Acts, it is not 
enough to observe that while the Gospels contain the history 
of the Master's own ministry, this book records the labours 
of the apostles. Both alike narrate the work of the Lord : 
the Gospels, what he did in person when he was here ; the 
Acts, what he did by the ministry of his chosen witnesses 
after he had ascended. 

This distinction is marked in the first verse. Luke in- 
timates that in the former treatise he had recorded " all that 
Jesus began both to do and teach;" implying that the history 
which he is now about to compose will be occupied with 
what Jesus continued both to do and teach after he had sat 
down at the right hand of the Father. The distinction is 
not that the former treatise dealt with what Jesus did, and 
the latter with what was done by the apostles; the distinction 
is, that the former treatise told what Jesus did in the first 
place, and the latter what Jesus did in the second. The 

A 



2 



The Church in the House. 



first part of Christ's work has already in the Gospels been 
recorded ; and now in another treatise the second part, or the 
continuance, of his work will be told. His ministry, death, 
resurrection, and ascension constituted only the beginning or 
foundation of the Eedeemer's work. But after the foundation 
has been laid a lofty temple must be reared upon it ; and 
the builder of this temple is Christ the Lord. When he 
ascended from the Mount of Olives, a way was opened from 
earth to heaven ; but a multitude whom no man can number 
must be led by it into glory : and none can lead them 
but himself, the Captain of their salvation, the Bishop of 
their souls. 

This book, then, is the continuation of " the life of Jesus " 
by the evangelist Luke. Nor did the Lord's work on earth 
cease at the date when this history closes. Hitherto the Son 
worketh, and will work till the end. He will not cease 
from his work until the kingdoms of this world shall have 
all become his own. The working of Christ upon the earth 
does not cease when the inspired history of it ceases. The 
track of the Eedeemer's way is marked on this inspired chart 
only a stage or two into the desert, and there it breaks 
abruptly off ; but the way of the Lord does not stop where 
this track of it comes to an end. In a map of the city, you 
may see the road that leads to another city laid down for a 
little way beyond the wall, and then broken off abruptly in 
a field. The first stage is traced on the map to show that 
there is a road, and in what direction it goes ; but the road 
does not terminate in that field a few yards beyond the city 
walls : the road leads all the way to the capital, and passen- 
gers throng it from end to end, from day to day. It is thus 
that the Book of the Acts marks our Lord's goings after his 
resurrection only a stage or two forward as a specimen to 
show us the character of his rule ; but his goings continue 



The Gospel and the Acts. 



3 



with his people still, and will continue until the last of the 
ransomed shall enter rest. 

This latter treatise does not begin precisely where the 
former treatise ends. By design, and not by accident, the 
two overlap each other. The resurrection and ascension of 
Christ constitute the last portion of the Gospel, and the first 
portion of the Acts. The same facts appear at the close of 
one book and at the outset of another. 

Thus, when a bridge of two arches spans a deep river, both 
arches lean on one pillar that rises in the middle of the flood. 
In the midst of the gulf that separated God and man, and 
in the midst too of the tide of time, stood Jesus : on him 
the old dispensation rests, and on him the new. 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 
From the solid shore of a past eternity sprang the covenant 
of grace ; but it bent over and bent down seeldng support 
in the middle of the ages. It cannot go over from eternity 
to eternity at a single span. But here and among men there 
was nothing which could bear our side of the covenant, 
corresponding to God's side of it, leaning on eternal right- 
eousness before time began. There was nothing here but a 
fathomless deep of sin and misery. Man's extremity was 
God's opportunity. Through this flood went the person and 
the work of Christ, and became a foundation, in humanity, 
equal to and corresponding with the eternal righteousness 
which supported the arch at the other side. God-with-us 
stands up in the sea of humanity, as a pier in mid-stream. 
Divine justice found a resting-place on him : " This is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus the purpose 
of mercy, like the bow of promise, spanned the space from 
eternity down to the fulness of time, when the Son of God 
took our nature, and wrought out a righteousness for us and 
i in our stead. There stands the arch now, resting on the 



4 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



Father's eternal purpose on the one side, and on the Son's 
atoning death on the other. In the end of the Gospel history 
we found the first hemisphere of the Divine dispensation, 
terminating in Christ crucified and ascended. That part of 
the redemption was finished when Messiah died. Now, at 
the beginning of the Acts, we find the second arch springing 
where the first was finished. This second part begins, as the 
first part ended, with the death, resurrection, and ascension 
of the Lord. Eesting there, it rises into the heavens, and 
stretches away into the future. We lose sight of it, as we 
often lose sight of the rainbow, in mid-heavens ; but we 
know assuredly that it will traverse all the intervening space, 
and lean secure on the continent of a coming eternity. From 
shore to shore the way of mercy reaches across the bottom- 
less gulf of fallen humanity, the last side of the first circle 
and the first side of the second resting both on the repre- 
sentative Man, our Brother and Substitute, the second Adam, 
the Lord from heaven. 

Between the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and his ascen- 
sion from the Mount of Olives intervened a period of nearly 
thirty-four years. This space — which, according to the 
measurements of time, is considerable — becomes a point 
when it is viewed from eternity; as vast worlds seem shining 
sparks when they lie deep in the infinitude. The life of 
Jesus in the world was the point of contact between the 
finite and the Infinite — the meeting-place between God and 
man. At that point God touched us, and we were not con- 
sumed; we touched him, and yet lived. 

"When the Infinite and Eternal would make himself known 
to us, he needs must fix on a point in space — a moment in 
time. Somewhere on the surface of this inhabited world, 
and at some period in the course of the ages, the meeting 
must take place. In J udaea, and about eighteen hundred and 



The Gospel and the Acts. 



5 



seventy-five years ago, the Word — who was with God, and 
was God — became flesh, and dwelt among us. 

Although, according to our mode of reckoning, the contact 
extended over a portion of space and a period of time, it will 
seem only a point, when angels look down on it, or saints 
look back. With the ascension from the Mount of Olives, 
Christ's personal ministry on earth was closed. Here the 
eclipse went off, and the Sun of Kighteousness shone forth 
again in the sight of the unfallen, free from the obscuration, 
partial and temporary, which he had undergone. 

When an eclipse comes on the sun, a strange gloom is 
spread over all the heavens, and the the sun seems to have 
been robbed of his glory ; but when you have waited a while, 
and marked the changing phases of the phenomenon, you 
observe that the sun is shaking off the cold shadow of our 
satellite that seemed to cover his disc. The last remnant of 
the darkness disappears, and the light of day emerges in all 
his former glory. 

One can well imagine that to angelic spirits, who imper- 
fectly understood his attributes and his plans, the incarnation 
of the Son might seem like a solar eclipse. Some cold, dark, 
earthly orb comes in contact with their Lord, and his glory 
is to their view for the time obscured. Throughout those 
thirty-three years the angels may have been occupied inquir- 
ing in curious wonder what had caused the unwonted dimness 
of their day ; and they may have experienced a glad relief 
when the obscuration passed off, and He whom they worship 
resumed his throne. 

We, on our part, are permitted to draw near also and 
behold the great sight. The parting scene is depicted in this 
history. The Son of God had grasped a fallen world that 
he might save it, and now he lets that world go again — no, 
he is not really letting it go; for he has taken hold of our 



6 



The Church in the House. 



nature and has borne it with him to his throne. He still 
holds fast this world; ever tight is the line of love that binds 
him to all his own. Keen and sensitive, as the nerves that 
nnite head and members, are those lines through which his 
love thrills down into his people, and their hope goes up to 
fasten on the anchor, sure and steadfast, within the veil. 



II. 

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

" Until the day in which he Was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost 
had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen : to whom 
also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, 
being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the 
kingdom of God : and, being assembled together with them, commanded 
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise 
of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly 
baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not 
many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of 
him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 
And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, 
which the Father hath put in his own power." — Acts I. 2-7. 

IN this his second statement of the event, the inspired 
historian has been directed to express very precisely 
the kind of evidence by which the resurrection of Jesus 
w r as proved to the original witnesses, and through them to 
us. " To whom he showed himself alive after his passion, 
by many infallible proofs ; being seen of them forty days, 
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God." As the faith of the whole Church depends absolutely 
on the resurrection of our Redeemer, it pleased God to give 
ample evidence of the fact. But he gave no other evidence 



Final Instructions. 



7 



than that which appeals to the senses of men. There is no 
other possible way of proving a fact than by the evidences 
of the senses. Even our Maker cannot give us other and 
better evidence of a fact, unless he should first change 
radically our nature. The evidence of Christ's resurrection 
is complete. Faith is satisfied, and reason too. But observe 
how this bears on the Eomish dogma of transubstantiation. 
The pillar on which that house stands is the assumption and 
assertion of the priests that the senses may deceive, and 
cannot implicitly be trusted. Themselves being witnesses, 
if this assertion falls, their whole doctrine falls with it. But 
the self- same assumption that sustains transubstantiation, 
would leave the resurrection of Christ unproved and in- 
capable of proof. Either the evidence of the senses is valid 
proof of a fact, or it is not. If it is, transubstantiation is 
false ; if it is not, the resurrection of Christ is not proved. 
The very same evidence in kind and degree which proves 
that Christ has risen, proves also that the bread and wine, 
after priestly consecration, remain bread and wine, and are 
not changed into the very body and blood of Christ. . Thus 
the Eoman apostasy cannot sustain its great fundamental 
superstition, without at the same time and by the same 
means destroying the proof that the Eedeemer has risen. 
Antichrist ! But, alas ! such superstition goeth not out by 
reasoning, however clear. Those who drink the wine of 
Bome's abominations would not throw aside their falsehood, 
although one rose from the dead to tell them it was false. 
No Protestant should make light of Popery, as if it were out 
of date and effete. It is a power of darkness ; but it is a 
power. It sees its own way and knows its own mind better 
than the statesmen who, without believing it, fawn upon it 
and flatter it, apparently from sheer fear of being counted 
illiberal in religion. The signs of the times bode trouble. 



8 



The Church in the House. 



Perhaps the present generation of Protestants may need to 
learn again the meaning of their own name. It is not 
flattering to the intellectual pride of the age, if the age had 
eyes to see it, that one of its great movements is towards a 
system which is at once an irrational superstition and an 
unmitigated tyranny. 

The last question which the disciples addressed to their 
Master immediately before he ascended out of their sight — 
"Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
Israel ? " — has been perhaps too hastily represented as 
evidence of their great ignorance and great earthliness, up to 
the period of the Pentecost, notwithstanding their privilege 
of constant intercourse with the Lord. The question, I 
apprehend, sprang from a true spiritual desire, and from a 
sound though defective knowledge regarding Messiah's 
kingdom. 

When you look up to the sky on a clear night, and fix 
your eye on two stars shining near each other with equal 
brightness, they seem to your sense equally distant from the 
earth. But if one is a planet of our system, and the other a 
fixed star, the difference between their distances is very 
great — not indeed beyond the power of figures to express, 
but beyond the power of imagination clearly to conceive. 
The distance of the planet from the earth is only a small 
fraction of the distance of the star. Into the spiritual 
firmament these men of Galilee looked under the instruction 
of the Lord, but as yet they looked as children. They saw 
objects distinctly; but they could not judge correctly of 
relative distances and magnitudes. The two objects were 
clearly set before them in the writings of the prophets and 
the words of Jesus, — these two, their own baptism with the 
Holy Ghost as with fire, and the restoration of the kingdom 
to Israel — the union of all nations under David's sceptre in 



Final Instructions. 



9 



the New Jerusalem. The Master had now given them the 
distance of one of these objects : it was at hand — " Ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." 
In the same prophecy of the Old Testament they had read 
of that baptism, and of the universal submission of the 
nations to the throne of David. They saw the two stars in 
the same direction, and they thought that they were in the 
same plane. JSTow they had obtained express intimation 
regarding one of these twin promises, that its fulfilment was 
at hand. It was natural that they should expect that the 
same bright particular star, which they had been accustomed 
to see shining side by side with it in the pure expanse, 
would approach also at the same time. Hence their question, 
"Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
Israel?" 

Their conceptions, I think, were by this time much more 
elevated than they were at the beginning of their course. 
Their idea of the kingdom was now truer than when the 
sons of Zebedee sought by early application to secure places 
near the throne ; and yet it may also be freely owned that 
their thoughts fell far short, not only of the reality, but 
even of the views which themselves a few days afterwards 
obtained. 

The baptism by the Holy Spirit will come immediately. 
Its time is known and declared ; but the gathering of the 
nations under the sceptre of David's Son, although fixed in 
the heavens and shining brightly thence, is still far away. 
Times and seasons, ages and epochs, intervene. By these, 
in indefinite measure and unexpressed number, its approach 
is indicated. The time of the end lies hid in the Father's 
counsel A wide expanse, by man immeasurable, lies 
between the baptism by fire of the first apostles for their 
ministry, and the cry, " The kingdoms of this world have 



IO 



The Church in the House. 



become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." The 
business of these men is to strike in upon the work, and 
leave the issue to God. When shall the kingdom of Christ 
be complete ? Answer : What is that to thee ? follow thou 
me. These ages and epochs are not only hidden in the 
Father's purpose, they are also held in the Father's hand. 
He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth. He will not fail in his 
purpose ; he will not miss his mark. 

While it is right and proper for Christians in this age of 
the world to observe the signs of the times, and endeavour 
to gird up their loins and watch for the coming of the Lord, 
it is an evidence of shallowness, and cause of much evil 
speaking, when at every political event, supposed to be very 
great because very near the observer, they give forth a new 
calculation to fix the date when the dispensation will come 
to a close. Unbelievers are indeed ready to scoff at the 
simplest and purest profession of faith in God ; but disciples 
should beware lest they give adversaries occasion to repeat 
their sneers. The prophecies of Scripture reveal the coming 
event, and keep it before us like a star in the firmament ; 
but they do not inform us how near it is. The Master, 
when the disciples asked him, besides refusing to give them 
the day and the date of his own final victory, told them why 
he withheld the information. He withheld it for their sakes. 
His language is not, I shall not tell you the times and 
seasons ; but, It is not for you that I should. We could 
not go so steadily in harness for present labour, if there 
were not blinders before our eyes, to conceal the plan of 
Providence and the goings of God in the world. It would 
not be for us, but against us, if we were able to count on our 
fingers, from a prophetical text or two, how many years the 
world will last. Such knowledge would puff up, and there- 



Witnesses. 



fore it is not given ; it would lead us to talk and speculate, 
instead of doing with our might what our hand finds to do. 
It is not enough that we submit to leave the ages and epochs 
in the Father's hand, because we cannot wrench them out of 
it : we should be glad and grateful that he spares us such 
sights into the future as we should not be able to bear. It 
is the part of a dear child to read eagerly all that the Father 
reveals, and to trust implicitly wherever the Father indicates 
a design to conceal. " Blessed are those servants whom the 
Lord, when he cometh, shall find " — not prying or predicting, 
but — " watching." 



III. 

WITNESSES. 

" But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and 
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."— Acts I. 8. 

THE chosen band, diminished now by the fall of Judas, 
are clustering affectionately yet reverently round the 
risen Lord, as they ascend together the slope of Olivet, 
looking their last look upon their Master, and eagerly 
drinking in his last words. They knew, for he had told 
them, that his departure was expedient ; but in their hearts 
they felt it sad. With a presentiment that the separation 
was at hand, they united all in one final question, " Lord, 
wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" 
In these circumstances a desire to pry into the future was 
natural ; but in the estimate of the Master it was unwise. 
Accordingly, he firmly checks their disposition to speculate 



12 



The Church in the House. 



about the date of the Millennium ; but he does not leave 
them dangling idle for want of an object, when the object 
which they endeavoured to grasp was placed conclusively 
beyond their reach. In removing the speculative inquiry 
from their mental vision, he placed a great practical work in 
their hands. This is the Lord's method, and it manifests a 
Divine wisdom. As often as any of his disciples evinced an 
inclination to follow a curious speculation regarding other 
persons, he diverted the stream of their energies into some 
channel of practical duty for themselves. The normal 
example of this method is the reply to Peter's inquisitive- 
ness regarding the rumoured immortality of John : Question 
— " And what shall this man do V* Answer — " What is that 
to thee ? Follow thou me." Away from other people and 
other times the word of the Lord always called the disciples, 
and fixed them down to what concerned themselves and the 
present. 

It is of great importance to observe that the Lord did not 
cut short their speculation into the secrets of the Divine 
purpose, and stop there : he gathered up the broken ends of 
their energy, and fastened them to an immediate work. If 
the planets should at any time stand still in their course, 
they would be drawn into the central fire and consumed. 
It is necessary to their well-being that they should be flung 
with all their force on a path of activity. Disciples of 
Christ, both in ancient and modern times, lie under a similar 
necessity. Unless they are thrown out in a course of 
vigorous action, they will be drawn into an orbit so narrow 
that action will be no longer possible. 

The specific office to which the disciples are called is to 
be witnesses unto Christ ; and yet for that office they were 
and are unfit, except in as far as the Lord imparts the power 
through the communication of the Holy Spirit. " Ye shall 



Witnesses. 



13 



receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : 
and ye shall be witnesses unto me." The power of witness- 
bearing depends on the Spirit, and the Spirit is the gift of 
Christ. Although those men were themselves saved, they 
were not fit to work any deliverance in the earth by their 
own wisdom or strength. Their demand for fire from heaven 
might have consumed their adversaries, but could not have 
converted them. On this method it would have been long 
ere they had filled God's guest-chamber by a multitude 
gathered from the highways and hedges of the world. 
Wanting the Spirit, even the apostles were inclined to 
persecute ; and, wanting the Spirit, the self-styled successors 
of the apostles have persecuted in all subsequent times. 

The Spirit is like the air. The Lord breathed on his dis- 
ciples, and said, " Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost. " We could 
not live our present natural life without air. The sun in 
the heavens would not warm us if the atmosphere w r ere not 
wrapped round the globe. The air is near, and the sun is 
distant. It is the sun's heat that sustains life; but the 
sun's heat could not be communicated to plants and animals 
without the intervention of the atmosphere. The earth is 
as completely dependent on air for its supply of water as for 
its supply of heat. The air obtains a supply from the ocean, 
and pours it on the dry land. Thus disciples in every age 
obtain grace from the Lord through the ministry of the Spirit. 

But the specific function which a disciple is fitted, through 
the ministry of the Spirit, to discharge, is to be a witness 
unto Christ. Whom Christ saves from the world, he employs 
in the world. The captives taken from the enemy in this 
warfare are one by one incorporated into the army of the 
great King, and sent into the field to fight against their 
former master. Conspicuous and instructive, in this aspect, 
is the experience of Paul. When the Lord overcame and 



14 The Church in the House. 

took captive that emissary of the Wicked One, the victory 
was the seed of other victories. The subdued enemy became 
a good and great soldier of J esus Christ. The captive, when 
smitten to the ground, and seized and disarmed, was not 
sent to prison ; was not, except for a very short time, sent to 
the rear, but ordered to the front, where the battle between 
Christ's kingdom and the god of this world was raging. 

To every true Christian these two things may be said : first, 
you have need of Christ ; and second, Christ has need of you. 
He saves you; you serve him. The simple fact that a 
Christian is on earth and not in heaven, is proof that there 
is something for him here to do ; and if he is not doing it, 
the neglect shows either that he is not yet a Christian indeed, 
or that he is a Christian who grieves Christ. A broken limb 
hurts him who owns it more than if it were completely 
severed from his body. Thus the Lord is hurt by those 
who, being his members, do not witness for him. 

The specific reason why the saved are left in the world 
awhile is, that they may be witnesses to their Lord. In 
heaven he does not need such witnessing. There, seeing is 
believing. The Lamb is the light of heaven, and there is no 
need of lesser lights to show his glory ; but in this dark 
world Christ's countenance shines through the spirit and life 
of his people. Here he has need of such witnesses. 

He needs vessels to bear his name about among men ; and 
for this purpose he chooses earthen vessels, that the power 
may be known to be his own. He does not send angels to 
publish his message; he does not employ the thunder to 
proclaim his name, or the lightning to write his character in 
the sky. The life of his own disciples is the epistle in 
which he desires to be read. The evidence with which he 
will convince the world is the walk of the people whom he 
has bought with his blood and renewed by his Spirit. 



Witnesses. 



15 



It is an honourable but difficult function. The task of a 
witness is often very arduous. The real strain comes in 
cross-examination. Every witness first emits his testimony, 
and is thereafter cross-examined on both its substance and 
its details. The evidence that a Christian gives directly, 
and in the first instance, consists in the whole course of his 
profession. He worships, he prays, he sits with fellow- 
disciples at the table of the Lord. By all this he testifies, 
and is well understood to testify, that when he was lost 
with the world in sin, Christ the Son of God by dying saved 
him. A great multitude in this land emit' readily this evi- 
dence in chief ; and in this department the majority acquit 
themselves well. With such a body of consistent testimony 
for Christianity — a body flowing ever on with the momen- 
tum of a river, one might expect that all the obstructions 
/Of unbelief would soon be broken down and swept away. 
Why, when there is so great a cloud of witnesses, is the 
heart of the world not won ? Much is due to the hardness 
of that same world that receives the testimony ; but some- 
thing is due also to the fickleness of the disciples who give 
it. The evidence in chief is easily given, and is, on the 
whole, given well ; but the cross-examination — alas, many 
of the witnesses break down there ! 

Either or both of two persons may, according to circum- 
stances, conduct the cross-examination — the judge or the 
adversary. It is ordinarily done by the adversary, but the 
judge permits the adversary to cross-examine, and occa- 
sionally puts a question himself. The life of a disciple is 
one long stance in the witness-box, under cross-examination 
by a severe adversary, who goes as far on every side as the 

i law allows him. You are set down in the market-place — 
wherever the buying and selling is conducted. You have 

1 lately worshipped in the house of prayer, and devoutly com- 



1 6 The Church in the House. 

memorated the death of the Lord. Those who meet you in 
the market know this. What then ? They may be them- 
selves unreconciled, unrenewed ; they are probably not easy 
— not satisfied with themselves — in neglecting the salvation 
of God. The presence of Christians fresh from their solem- 
nities renews their misgivings regarding their own position. 
It is not needful to repeat in the market-place the same testi- 
mony that was given at the communion table. A Christian, 
when he enters the market-place, should do business there — 
should not forthwith begin to preach, but to buy and sell, 
and get gain. It is the cross-examination that takes place 
on this sphere. It is not now, What do you believe ? but, 
Is your life, both in great things and in small, consistent 
with the profession which you have made ? The cross- 
examiner generally begins on some distant and apparently 
indifferent theme ; but the questions are so linked to the 
main subject that if, in answering them, anything escapes 
from the witness which clashes with his original evidence, 
his good confession is thereby undermined and destroyed. 
Overreaching in trade, unfairness in a bargain, unkindness | 
to dependants, untruth and evil-speaking, expose the Chris- 8 
tian profession to scorn, and shear it of its power. The adver- \ 
sary goeth about, especially at unsuspected turns of the j. 
Christian life-course, seeking whom he may devour. 

The sphere of the witness-bearing, hitherto confined to j E 
Israel, is about to be enlarged. In the first instance, the L 
twelve were not fit for a wider missionary field. They were L 
called in, and were not yet ready to be sent out — that is, to j ^ 
be apostles. They must undergo a preparatory training at [ 
the feet of Jesus, and at length be baptized with the Holy y 
Ghost. Then the embargo will be taken off: when they 
have served their apprenticeship in a home-mission under 
the Master's own eye, they will be intrusted with a com- I [ 



Witnesses. 



17 



mission to the ends of the earth. As soon as they have 
obtained the crowning qualification in the gift of the Spirit, 
he will loose them and let them go. Forth, then, from 
Jerusalem the word of God will run through Judsea and 
Samaria, nor halt in its progress till it strike the ends of 
the earth. 

In that age it spread fast and far ; but it was soon after- 
wards arrested. For many ages it made little progress. 
The Church became corrupt at its centre, and its extremities 
were paralysed : the root lost its own life, and therefore the 
branches could not spread to overshadow the land. More 
has been done during the present century to spread the word 
of the kingdom, than for many ages before. For the 
immediate past the Christian community should thank God; 
and for the future, though the horizon which bounds the 
view seems greatly troubled, they should, notwithstanding, 
take courage. 

Whatever of comfort or reproof lay in that word for the 
earliest disciples, belongs also to ourselves. The clause in 
their commission, " beginning at J erusalem," applies in its 
spirit to our mission- work. The charity that will convert 

I the world, is a charity that begins at home — begins at home, 
but does not end there. If it do not begin at home, it will 
not convert the world. If it essay to reach the heathen by 
leaping over many ranks of unslain enemies to Christ in our 
own hearts, and many ranks of unreproved blasphemers of 
his name on our own streets, it will never reach its distant 

i 1 mark among the heathen, or it will reach the mark with a 

U force already spent, lacking power to penetrate the armour 

f ' in which idolatry is encased. 

vj The Gospel in a true disciple is like a fire : it burns ; it 
jt '• causes vivid joy ; but it will not permit indolence. It must 
a- j be out : but, like light and heat, it cannot reach the distant 

! B 



1 8 The Church in the House. 

circumference without passing through the intermediate 
space, and kindling all that it touches on its way. The 
Colonies, the Continent of Africa, the peoples of India, and 
the Chinese, are the legitimate objects of missionary enter- 
prise ; but we cannot succeed in melting these icy regions at 
a distance, if our own home remain frozen like the poles. 
The laws of nature forbid it. Unless our love be of such a 
kind as greatly to disturb a godless neighbourhood at home, 
it will not set" on fire a distant continent. We cannot over- 
leap the vice and misery and irreligion of our own city, and 
pitch our missionaries with power by a ship to India. 

Besides the more hidden spiritual law, there is an obvious 
material fact that wiU in these circumstances prevent success. 
While a great mass of our home community remain un- 
christian, specimens of our population, cast up in foreign 
lands like drift-wood on the ocean shores, will counteract 
effectually the efforts of the missionaries. When settlers or 
seamen from this country, partakers of our name and our 
civilisation, partakers too of our Christian profession, appear 
among the heathen, and act as the heathen do, the way of 
the Gospel is obstructed; the work stands still, or goes back- 
ward. A ship heaves in sight in a bay on the coast of 
Africa, where Christian missionaries have long laboured 
among the rude natives. The ship hoists British colours, 
and the men speak our language, and claim kindred with 
the missionaries. When they open the hatches of their ship, 
it is found that the cargo consists of rum for barter with the 
natives. It is found on trial that, besides the mischief which 
rum is fitted in its own nature to inflict on an uncivilised 
tribe, the article is so grossly adulterated that it produces a 
wide-spread sickness, and endangers life. The discovered 
cheat reacts, in the minds of simple savages, against the 
missionaries and their message. 



The Ascension. 



19 



It would be a great mistake to abstain from foreign work 
till the home field be completely brought under culture : this 
counsel is sometimes given to missionaries by men who are 
not Christians at all. We must not fall into that trap. Some 
at home harden their hearts against the Gospel, and some 
abroad are predisposed to receive it. We must hasten to go 
out to the uttermost parts of the earth with our message ; 
but we must let the men who are beside us feel the glow of 
our zeal as it passes by. The command of the Lord is still 
the rule for his people, — Beginning at Jerusalem, but not 
ending till we reach the uttermost part of the earth. 

These words, constituting the disciples his witnesses in 
the world, were his last words; for when he had spoken them 
he was taken up. This command, therefore, every Christian 
should regard with especial veneration and tenderness. At 
his departure he left his Church in the world, — left it a 
legacy to the world, that it might in all times be a living 
epistle of himself. Promoted to such an honour, and 
charged with such a function, what manner of persons 
ought we to be ! 



VI. 

THE ASCENSION. 

I "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and 
blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted 
l from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and 
1 returned to Jerusalem with great joy." — Luke xxrv. 50-52. 

IrpHE Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the 
i _L Apostles are the two books of one continuous history, 
. by the same author. The first book contains the personal 
ministry of our Lord ; and the second gives sketches of the 



20 



The Church in the House. 



great mission work conducted by the apostles, under the 
ministry of the Spirit, after their Head had withdrawn from 
their view. The ascension of the Lord Jesus is the point of 
contact between the two books ; and, as is natural in such 
cases, they overlap each other a little there. From the end 
of the Gospel we gather some features of the ascension which 
are not repeated in the Acts. There we learn in succession 
how the ascending Lord regarded his disciples, and how the 
disciples regarded the ascending Lord. 

I. How the Lord regarded his disciples when he was in 
the act of leaving them. 

Look unto Jesus at the moment of his departure. If we 
acquaint ourselves with him as he goes away, we shall be 
prepared to welcome him when he returns. As he has gone, 
so will he come again ; with this difference, that at his 
second coming every eye shall see him. 

1. The place : "He led them out as far as to Bethany." 
It was the village on the further side of Olivet, where Lazarus 
and his sisters dwelt. The heart of the man Christ Jesus 
was not indifferent to the associations connected with the 
spot. There he had often rested when he was weary. There 
he had proclaimed and proved himself the Eesurrection and 
the Life. Perhaps it was at Bethany that the eleven could 
best bear to let him go out of their sight. "He that I 
believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 1 
There human love clothed itself with omnipotence, and re- 1 
called a brother from the grave. If the disciples, in their I 
weakness, could anywhere endure to look the last time in | 0 
this world on their Lord, it was on the spot where their I [ 
friend Lazarus was loosed and let go. Places have power on l (il 
human hearts. He who knows our frame acknowledges this l^ 
principle, and uses it. Some spots of this dull Earth! I 



The Ascension. 



21 



are consecrated by bright, blessed memories, which, when 
occasionally revived, refresh a weary soul. Do not be super- 
stitiously subject to places ; but, on the other hand, beware 
of despising them ; for though they cannot save, they may 
serve. " All things are yours." 

2. The parting act : " He lifted up his hands, and blessed 
them." Those hands were never lifted up to smite ; those 
lips blessed, and cursed not. Let those who bear his name 
strive to follow his steps. Let our hands, our lips, be like 
his. Jesus is the revelation of God — is God revealed. Not 
by his words only, but also by his life, he showed us the 
Tather. Of that blessed life we may read while we run the 
legend, — " God is love." 

Bear in mind that Christ is God's visit to the world. From 
first to last that visit was love. His appearing was gentle 
as a summer's dawn. He was born a babe, wrapped in 
swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. Such was the 
step 'by which a holy God approached our world when it 
rebelled against him. Angels sang the advent as peace 
on earth and good- will to men. The key-note struck at his 
birth was maintained throughout his history ; and you catch 
its cadence in his dying agony, when he prayed, "Father, 
forgive them." In the moment of his ascension you recog- 
nise still the Lamb of God : " He lifted up his hands, and 
blessed them." 

In the last glimpse we get of Jesus, as he leaves the world, 
he appears lifting up his hands to bless. He disappears in 
the act of giving ; Mary, on the contrary, disappears from 
our view in the act of receiving. He, at his departure, as 
becomes the Saviour of sinners, gives to the needy out of his 



i own fulness ; she at her departure, as becomes a sinner saved, 
i is opening her mouth wide, that she may receive from her 
i Redeemer's grace. He lifts up his hands to bless ; she bends 



22 



The Church in the House. 



her knees to pray (Acts i. 14). Even so ; for there is but 
one Mediator between God and man. 

3. His departure. He went to heaven as he came to earth 
— for his people's good. " It is expedient for you that I go 
away." We need an advocate with the Father; and we have 
one, Jesus Christ the righteous. We need an anchor of the 
soul while we are exposed on the stormy sea ; and we have 
one, for our forerunner has, on our account, gone before us 
within the veil. 

But though he went out of their sight, he did not go far 
from them. He has left the promise, "Lo, I am with you 
alway." Leaning on his arm, they look for his appearing. 

II. How the disciples regarded their ascending Lord. 

1. " They worshipped him." This is a great word. This 
is a great step in the path of those who followed Christ, and 
the print of it is full of meaning for us to-day. It is worship : 
it is the homage of a human heart, which is due to God 
alone. " See thou do it not," is the angel's stern command, 
as soon as a man proposes by mistake to offer worship to 
any created being. 

Man is made for worshipping. This is shown by the two 
facts : that he has been made, and that he has been. made so 
great. The beasts that perish have, like him, been formed 
by the Creator's hand ; but they have not the faculties neces- 
sary for recognising their Maker. We, as much as they, are 
the work of God's hand ; but, unlike them, we possess intelli- 
gence to observe and own the hand that made us. By the 
double fact that we are high enough to know God, and not 
high enough to be God, we are constrained to worship. Man 
is constitutionally a religious being. In his heart there lies 
a capacity for worship, and a tendency to exercise it. But 
while there is something allied to an instinct within us 



The Ascension. 



23 



prompting to worship, a darkened mind and a defiled con- 
science continually turn the stream aside from its proper 
channel and pollute all its volume. It is human to worship ; 
but no human being since the Fall, when left to himself, 
worships aright. 

Error, which apart from Eevelation and the ministry of 
the Spirit is universal, parts practically into two, and flows 
in diverging channels. Worship is directed either to the 
true God, and in that case is dead ; or to an idol, and in that 
case it can afford to have a species of life. Man finds it easy 
to offer ardent worship to a creature, but impossible, without 
the intervention of a Mediator, to give real worship to the 
living God. Hence idolatry is frequently earnest ; while the 
worship of Jehovah, apart from the knowledge of him in 
Christ, is a form. 

The gulf was bridged for man by the incarnation of the 
Son of God. Here men worship a Man, and yet there is 
no idolatry. In Immanuel a human heart may dissolve in 
Divine homage to a brother of our own flesh and blood, and 
yet not be defiled by spiritual unchasteness. Here man 
worships a Man, and yet preserves purity of spirit. Only 
in Christ can he find an object whom he can worship 
without fear, and yet worship without sin. God has bowed 
his heavens and come down. He has taken hold of our 
nature : we, when we feel his touch, awake and worship 
— worship him that touched us, and yet worship only God. 

2. " They returned to J erusalem." This was a great 
point gained. The Master did not miscalculate the strength 
of the love to himself which he had kindled in the breasts 
of these poor men. It was difficult for them to take the 
first step. It required the ministry of angels to tear them 
from the spot. " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
up into heaven V (Acts i. 11.) Ah, ye angels that excel in 



24 



The Church in the House. 



strength, something that ye know not of rivets these men to 
the spot. These ministering spirits asking the disciples why 
they stood gazing after the risen Lord, are like persons who 
never knew a mothers joys or sorrows expressing surprise to 
see a mother melting away with grief when her babe is dead. 
He took not on him the nature of angels ; but in the own 
nature of these Galileans the Lord of Glory had kept them 
company, and won their hearts, and redeemed their souls. 
Therefore they stood and gazed toward heaven at the spot 
where he ascended. 

Their spiritual life hitherto had depended on the presence 
of the Lord, as an infant's life depends directly on its mother. 
They were children, and at that moment children weaned. 
The branches seemed broken from the tree, and they thought 
they must droop and die. But he who made them new 
creatures had so constituted their spiritual life that it could 
survive the weaning and grow stronger thereby. " Greater 
things than these shall ye do, because I go to my Father." 
His departure was necessary for their development into the 
stature of perfect men. 

They were not disobedient to the heavenly vision. They 
did not, on the one hand, continue gazing from the mountain 
up to heaven, in a fervent but unpractical devotion ; neither, 
on the other hand, did they return to Galilee to their farms 
and their fishings. They did not demand the return of their 
Lord, neither did they desert his cause when they were 
deprived of his presence. They returned to Jerusalem. This 
simple act, in their circumstances, proved two things ; first, 
their firm conviction that the promised Spirit would come ; 
and second, their settled determination to accept the task of 
converting the world. They came into the city to wait for 
the Spirit ; but they waited for the Spirit in order that they 
might go forth in his power to win the nations to Christ. 



The Ascension. 



25 



There was much in this act. When those poor and 
afflicted men went back to the city where their Masters 
blood had been shed, it was at the risk of spilling also their 
own. If they had not been sustained by a superhuman 
courage, Jerusalem would have been the last place to which 
they should have turned their steps. It was the power of 
their unseen Lord that nerved their hearts, as they made 
their way down the western slopes of the mountain and 
entered Jerusalem as the followers of Jesus the crucified 
Nazarene. 

3. They returned with great joy. What have we here ? 
Great joy ! How comes this ? As well might you expect 
a flame to burst from yonder altar after the piled wood has 
been soaked and the ditch round its base filled with water. 
But a fire from heaven, at Elijah's cry, made the dripping 
fuel burn; and light from the love of God kindled these 
men's hearts and made their faces shine in spite of the sea 
of troubles that surrounded them. 

They had witnessed the rage of the Jews against their 
Master, and they had been distinctly warned that a similar 
persecution would overtake those who should dare to wit- 
ness to his name and cause. In Jerusalem no comfort 
awaited them. Among its multitudes they had no friends 
except a few timid men, who dared not face the danger ; and 
a few faithful women, who were weeping themselves away 
in some obscure hiding-places. Jerusalem contained the 
Eoman governor and his soldiers ; the Sanhedrim and the 
mob ; the multitude that heaved and stormed like the sea, 
until its cruel appetite was appeased by the blood of Jesus. 
0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! thou that killest the prophets, and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee, there was nothing in 
thee to make these men of Galilee glad when they returned 
from Bethany without their Lord. 



26 



The Church in the House. 



They are not permitted to enter rest with their Lord, 
but they are sent to work for him ; and this made them 
glad. They worshipped him ; and now they go from worship 
down to work : from the work they will, in due time, return 
again to worship. Thus, between these two, the pendulum 
of their life will vibrate, until its last hour strike ; and then 
the labourer, at a bound, will enter his eternal rest. 

Thus, a Christian who lives up to his privilege leads a sort 
of charmed life. Nothing can come wrong. To depart is to 
be with Christ ; to remain is to work for Christ : and both 
are joyful. 



WAITING AND PEAYING. 

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken tip ; and 
a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly 
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white 
apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned 
they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem 
a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into 
an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, 
Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, 
and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued 
with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the 
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." — Acts i. 9-14. 

" A ND when he had spoken these things." These 
A words ! They were the last and yet not the last. 
The last in the ministry of his visible presence ; but he will 
continue to teach them still. His word liveth and abideth I 
for ever. He will make good his promise, " Lo, I am with 
you alway." 



Waiting and Praying. 



27 



We linger on the last words : " It is not for you to know 
the times or the seasons." Himself knows them, and know- 
ing them, knows that it was not expedient to impart these 
deep things of God to men. But in the act of intimating 
that the date of the event must remain concealed, he clearly 
declares that the event itself is sure, — the establishment of 
the kingdom in Israel — the universal reign of the Son of 
David. The event is sure, and the date also is fixed ; but 
the knowledge of the date cannot be revealed. For their 
sakes it is concealed ; for manifestly the absolute declaration 
of the date would thwart and hinder the establishment of 
the kingdom. It would have closed the lips of suppliants, 
and paralysed the hands of those who should be fellow- 
workers with God. 

When the Lord declines to declare the date of the expected 
consummation, he gives them another thing instead. He 
gives them what he counts better. Something which they 
asked was not for them, and therefore it was withheld ; 
something which they did not ask was for them, and there- 
fore it was bestowed. It is thus that we treat our children 
day by day. 

He never gives his disciples a blank refusal. When he 
declines one thing, he bestows a better. That which he 
bestowed in this case was the combined promise and com- 
mand of the eighth verse : " It is not for you to know the 
times or the seasons ; but ye shall receive power after that 
the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses 
unto me," etc. Instead of permitting them to occupy their 
minds with an unknown future, he sends them into present 
work. Instead of telling them when the kingdom will 
come, he assigns to them the work of bringing in the king- 
dom. It is by their witnessing that the nations will be 
made subject to Christ. "The God of peace shall bruise 



28 



The Church in the House. 



Satan under your feet shortly but you must arise and 
contend ; you must cast down the old serpent, and stamp 
upon his prostrate folds. 

" And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he 
went up, behold, two men stood by them." Whoever the 
messengers may have been, the message which they bear is 
clear : " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him 
go into heaven." The interval must be occupied, not in 
pensive, fond upward gazing, but in hearty, earnest work. 
He will come again; but times and seasons which man 
cannot number will intervene. These are times of witnessing 
for all the disciples of Christ. They must receive the Spirit ; 
they must be witnesses for Christ ; they must begin at Jeru- 
salem ; they must reach the ends of the earth. After that 
shall the end be. The time seems long ; and yet it is 
approaching quickly. That fixed star seems fixed indeed to 
our eyes; there it has stood in the deep of heaven, and 
glittered down on the upturned eyes of longing disciples 
these eighteen hundred years — the bright promise of his 
coming ; but though it seems to stand still, it is moving ; 
it is approaching. Be of good cheer, disciples, your Eedemp- 
tion is nearer than when those Galileans first left their nets 
to follow Jesus. The fixed star is not fixed — it is rushing 
through space to its goal, although its movements cannot be 
detected by our instruments. The kingdom is coming, 
although it is beyond the power of our calculus to predict 
the time of its arrival. Its sudden appearing will surprise 
and gladden the waiting Simeons and Annas of that day. 

This earth is a small body ; it is like a grain of sand on 
the shore of Immensity — a Bethlehem-Ephratah among the 
worlds which constitute God's universe : yet the Earth is, 
and ever will be, the most valued of all his works, because 



Waiting and Praying. 



29 



into it has come and from it has ascended the Divine 
Kedeemer, in whom all things shall yet be gathered into 
one. Here he passed through his humiliation, and here will 
his glory be displayed. 

When the disciples reached the city, they betook them- 
selves to a large upper room — some hall, either hired for the 
purpose or gratuitously placed at their disposal by some 
believer, such as Joseph of Arimathea, who owned property 
and loved the Lord. From the beginning the Lord needed 
men of property, and from the beginning he provided them. 
To the poor the Gospel was preached ; but at the same time 
the love of Christ constrained some of the rich to minister 
unto him of their substance whatever material means were 
necessary for the work. 

As they enter the upper room the names of all the Eleven 
are taken down and transmitted by the record to the latest 
generation. Peter is restored, and his backsliding healed ; 
Thomas is confirmed, and believes, although he no longer 
sees. We have here what in modern phraseology would be 
termed the minutes and the sederunt of the first missionary 
meeting. With the apostles other believers, men and women, 
assembled, until the company in the upper room numbered 
about a hundred and twenty. 

Here is the first assembly of the Christian Church after 
the ascension of the Lord. This is the well's eye near the 
summit of the mountain, and the tiny rill that trickled over 
its brim that day has grown into a mighty river now. Down 
through the generations the stream has flowed without 
ceasing ; and at this day, although many things impede its 
progress, the Christian Church is the greatest power in the 
world. How great the numbers that go up to the house of 
God to worship in the name of the one Mediator ! From a 
very small mustard seed a mighty tree has grown. 



30 The Church m the House, 



In that upper room were all the elements that go to con- 
stitute " the Church." The first assembly was the germ of 
all that followed. United worship is a Divine ordinance. 
Not only is it in accordance with the revealed will of God, 
it is manifestly suited to the need and the capacity of men. 
It is true that the spiritual life depends primarily on the 
individual ; but it is also true that for spiritual growth and 
health we are instrumentally dependent on association with 
fellow-Christians. 

Our soul's state is much affected, either for good or evil, 
by the company of our kind. A human being has a separate 
personal identity, and also social relations with his neigh- 
bours. Some of our actions are solitary, and terminate on 
ourselves, such as breathing, thinking ; others are necessarily 
social, and presuppose society, such as speaking, hearing, 
loving. If a man were entirely separated from his kind, he 
would no longer be what he is — would soon cease to be. 
Half of his faculties would lie dormant for want of exercise ; 
and lying long dormant, they would die ; and the death of one- 
half of his faculties would soon take the life out of all the rest. 

Thus necessary is society for man. God has not neglected 
this feature of the human constitution in the structure of his 
covenant and the organisation of the Church. Our individual 
relation to God is the first thing : Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me ? — thou me. But when this first commandment of 
the Gospel has been enforced, the second, which is like unto 
it, is not neglected. None can save his brother ; every one 
must enter into relation with God for himself ; but every 
man both gets and gives in intercourse with society. Every 
disciple helps or hinders his fellow-disciple. In all earnest 
times they that fear the Lord speak often one to another ; 
and the Lord hearkens and hears when any company, great 
or small, agree to seek him together. 



The Spirit at Pentecost. 



3i 



There was perseverance in the prayer of the primitive 
Church — " they continued." There was unity in those early 
prayer-meetings — they prayed "with one accord." The 
prayers were not soon broken off, and were not hindered by 
disagreements among the suppliants. They ascended straight 
to heaven in a pillar of pure incense, and descended soon in 
showers of blessing — a great refreshing from the presence of 
the Lord. 



VI. 

THE SPIEIT AT PENTECOST. 

" And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord 
in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there 
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak 
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." — Acts n. 1-4. 

THE only event recorded in the interval of ten days be- 
tween the ascension of Christ and the mission of the 
Holy Spirit is the election of an apostle in the room of Judas, 
which occupies the latter half of the first chapter. The 
disciples waited at Jerusalem for the promise, and the pro- 
mise was in due time fulfilled — " When the day of Pentecost 
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." 
They waited for the Spirit as those who wait for the morning ; 
as eager for its coming, and as sure that it will come at the 
set time. Although they were sure of the event, they did 
not relax in the use of the means to procure it. Persevering 
prayer and oneness of heart, were the forces by which they 
drew the blessing down. 
At the feast of the Passover, the lamb was slain ; at the 



32 



The Church in the House. 



feast of Pentecost the law was given. Coincident with the 
slaying of the lamb was the death of Christ ; coincident 
with the giving of the law was the descent of the Spirit. 
The long-continued, oft-repeated prophecy was at length 
fulfilled. Passovers and Pentecosts may now cease. Like i 
the seed cast into the ground, they perish in the act of pro- 
ducing. As the sacrifice of Christ was the substantial fruit 
from the typical promise of the Passover, so the descent of 
the Spirit was the real and effective giving of the law to men. 
On the first Pentecost the law was written on tables of stone ; ! 
on the last Pentecost came the Spirit, whose office it is to 
write that law on the living tables of the heart. 

" Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rush- 
ing mighty wind/' Not a rushing mighty wind, but a sound 
that seemed like it. It pleased the Lord to manifest the 
descent of the Spirit by signs that appeal to the senses, that 
by the mouth of two witnesses the fact might be confirmed ; ! 
— the sense of hearing, this sound ; the sense of sight, the 
tongues of fire. The fire was like cloven tongues — that is, 
it was distributed so that a tongue touched each, licking his 
head like a flame. The tongue was not of fire, but " like as 
of fire;" there was the brightness, but not the burning. 
The tongues indicated speech, and the fire promised that the i 
words spoken to spread the Gospel would be burning words. 

At an earlier period the Pharisees, tempting him, asked a \ 
sign from heaven. He refused ; he would not give a sign to 
satisfy the curiosity of unbelievers. But when his own dis- [ 
ciples are sad, he gives them, without being asked for it, a , 
sign from heaven to cheer them ; to prove that he is there, ! L 
and that all power is in his hands. When Joseph sent the i 
royal chariots from Egypt to bring his famishing father into jjjj 
a land of plenty, the sight of the vehicles — with perhaps the 
royal arms emblazoned on their sides, according to the fashion j ^ 



The Spirit at Pentecost. 



33 



of Egyptian art — restored J acob's fainting heart, convincing 
him that his son was alive, and possessed of kingly power 
(Gen. xlv. 26-28). In some such manner this sign from 
heaven was fitted to confirm in the trembling hearts of those 
primitive disciples the struggling conviction of their faith, 
that Jesus their elder brother lived, and reigned, and remem- 
bered them with all his wonted love. 

" And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Hitherto 
communications of the Spirit had been made in smaller 
measure, as foretastes of the promised blessing. Man, by 
the Fall, lost communion with God. He became flesh, not 
only in the sense of being human, but in the sense of being 
destitute of the Spirit, without God in the world. 

Through the covenant by which Christ undertook redemp- 
tion, glimpses of the Spirit were vouchsafed in the earlier 
times, so that the world was not left in complete darkness. 
The Spirit of God did strive with man in the evil days both 
before and after the Flood ; but it was only when the Word 
I became flesh and dwelt among us that the Spirit in fulness 
returned to the earth. In the second Adam the Spirit dwelt 
without measure. He had no sin, and when he became 
flesh the Spirit was restored to humanity. When he ascended 
up on high he retained a connection with his disciples on 
earth through their faith ; and by that thread the Divine 
Spirit thrilled down from the Head into the members, 
i " They were filled with the Holy Ghost." The vessels 
• were prepared and gathered together. The long- cherished 
\ i expectations and the long-continued prayers were all brought 
>, L to a point when the day of Pentecost was fully come. To 
ie |' that point drawn, the Spirit came, and all the vessels were 
i i filled to overflowing. 

it! Then was the disaster of the Fall remedied. First fruits the 
i i Church had previously obtained, but now came the full harvest. 

c 



34 



The Church in the House. 



VII. 

THE TONGUES OF FIKE. 

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." — Acts n. 4. 

" rTlHEY began to speak with other tongues ; " that is, in 
1 other languages than their own ; especially in the 
languages of the various nationalities enumerated below. 
This is not a miraculous gift bestowed on the missionaries, and 
to be used in their ministry so as to supersede the use of 
ordinary means. There is scarcely a trace of such a gift in 
the Scriptures of a later date ; and no trace of it in the subse- 
quent history of the Church. It would have been unlike the 
way of the Lord — against the analogy of Providence. It 
.was a sign graciously given on that day to confirm the faith 
of the disciples at the crisis of their need; not a convenience 
to render exertion unnecessary. In like manner, the Lord, 
in a crisis of his personal ministry, fed a famishing multitude 
with a few loaves. This was done for a sign, that they 
might believe. But he did not interfere with the ordinary 
course of Providence; he did not free men from the necessity 
of tilling and sowing the ground. 

" As the Spirit gave them utterance." Their hearts were 
filled with the great things of the kingdom, and they laboured 
to pour them forth as glory to God. The Spirit given to 
them infused the thoughts, and framed the thoughts into 
words ; so that the emotions and sentiments that filled the 
hearts of these Galilean fishermen were poured out in the 
tougues of Greece and Eome, of Persia and Africa. Thus the 
men, whether of the stock of Israel or proselytes from the 
Gentiles, who had from various countries come up to Jeru- 
salem to worship at the feast, heard in their own languages 



The Tongues of Fire. 



35 



the wonderful works of God — heard and believed — believed 
and carried to their homes, and in their homes repeated ; so 
that the Gospel spread in the first age farther and faster 
through the world than in the ordinary course of even apo- 
stolic ministry. These foreign worshippers at Jerusalem 
received " bread to the eater and having lived on the word 
themselves, they carried it with them to their homes, as 
" seed to the sower : " and thence sprang a harvest, that 
waved like Lebanon, in Europe, in Africa, and in the East, 
during the lifetime of the Eleven. 

The utterance given by the Spirit to the missionaries was 
aptly symbolised by the tongues of fire. As water in baptism 
signifies the spiritual cleansing, so the fire, resting on the 
apostle's heads, promised the living conquering energy with 
which they should preach the gospel and spread the kingdom. 
The speech that publishes the glad tidings should be a 
tongue of fire. He who speaks the gospel coldly has not 
himself felt its power. When the preacher's heart is kindled, 
his words will burn. Enthusiasm, instead of being a blemish 
in a Christian, is his normal condition. " Eervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord ; " these two have been joined together by 
the Word of God, and they should never be put asunder in 
the practice of men. 

The gift of tongues — the " utterance " imparted by the 
Spirit — was a direct means of establishing Christ's kingdom, 
in that it supplied the apostles at the beginning of their work 
with a certificate of their call and their competence. It was 
evidence to all who heard that they were Divinely commis- 
sioned to make known the way of life. But besides its use 
as a sign to certify the calling of the preachers, it was in its 
own nature fitted, more than any other sign, directly to 
promote the cause. It both proved the doctrine true, and 
spread it far. The expression of the doctrine by Galilean 



36 



The Chwch in the House. 



preachers, in a language that foreigners understood, both 
induced the hearers to believe and enabled them to carry home 
what they had heard for the benefit of their own countrymen. 
Any other sign from heaven might have been equally effec- 
tive to convince the on-lookers that the apostles had a Divine 
commission to make known God's will ; but no other sign 
would have suited so well as an instrument to spread the 
Word of life rapidly among the nations — to sow the seed in 
the first spring over the wide field of the world. 

A question has been raised as to the precise import of the 
expression, "dwelling at Jerusalem," whether it means Jews 
born and bred in foreign countries, who in old age returned 
to lay their bones in the sacred city, or Jews and proselytes 
whose homes were in the various countries enumerated, and 
who were sojourning temporarily at Jerusalem, that they 
might worship at the feasts. There may have been speci- 
mens of both kinds ; but the spirit of the narrative seems to 
imply that the majority belonged to the latter class, and the 
Ethiopian eunuch is an example. Having come so far, it is 
probable that he remained a considerable time in the city ; 
and that he, and such as he, although only visitors, might 
correctly be represented as " dwelling at J erusalem." 

The Lord lives and rules now and in this land, as really 
as then in Judsea. He is the same yesterday and to-day 
and for ever. When a young person goes for a time to reside 
in town or country at a distance from home, and there hears 
the wonderful works of God — the work of redemption by 
the death of Christ — let him think, God has brought me to 
this place in order to speak this word to me ; he means that 
I should receive it, and live ; that, living by faith on his 
Son, I should return to my own home and tell what great 
things the Lord hath done for me. 



The Seed of the Word is spread. 3 7 



VIII. 

THE SEED OF THE WORD IS SPREAD. 

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation 
under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came to- 
gether, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in 
his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to 
another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans ? And how hear we 
every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born ? Parthians, and Medes, 
and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappa- 
docia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the 
parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 
Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful 
works of God."— Acts ii. 5-11. 

IN the cotton factories of Lancashire you may see a huge 
piece of machinery, fifty feet in length, and containing 
hundreds of spindles, moving slowly, steadily, across the floor 
from one side of the room to another ; and then, without the 
touch of a human hand, turning and moving as steadily and 
slowly back to the place from which it started. It is a 
great triumph of mechanical skill to insert within the 
machine a power by which, after it has moved a long way 
forward, it shall stop, and move as far backward. 

I think I see a similar contrivance in the Mosaic institutes. 
They were calculated and fitted to retain the word of God at 
Jerusalem till a certain time, and then to send the word 
forth from Jerusalem. The very same provision that con- 
fined the ordinances to Israel until Christ came, became the 
means of spreading them over the world at the appointed 
time — when the day of Pentecost was fully come. 

All the people must come to one place with their sacrifices. 
Year by year they made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the 
Passover and the other appointed feasts. Even after some 
of the people had settled in foreign lands they still obeyed 



38 



The Church in the House. 



this law. The Ethiopian treasurer travelled a thousand 
miles for this purpose, and many others from east and west 
and south and north met him there. This institution seemed 
intended and fitted to confine all worship of the true God to 
one place for ever. It seemed to forbid the spread of true 
religion over the world, and yet it became the means of 
carrying the gospel forth from Jerusalem, and making it 
known to the nations. 

This law and practice brought devout J ews and proselytes 
from many lands to Jerusalem at the Pentecost after the 
resurrection of Christ. Being on the spot when the Spirit 
was poured out, they heard each in his own tongue the gospel 
of grace, and carried the glad tidings home. Thus Christ was 
preached in many distant countries very soon after his own 
ministry was closed. That word which the strangers heard 
at Jerusalem they carried home as seed, and from that seed 
an early harvest sprung. 

In a still, hot, sultry day of autumn, as you walk through 
the fields, your atbention is arrested by a tiny sound at brief 
intervals, as if it were an explosion in miniature. You 
stand still and listen. Now and then you hear a sharp 
shot, and a few seconds thereafter, a shower of tiny balls 
falling on the ground or on the leaves of the larger plants. 
It is the bursting of seed-pods in the sun. The casket that 
contains the seed of some plants is composed of four or five 
long narrow staves, joined together like cooper work, but 
without the hoops. The staves are glued together at the 
edges, and the vessel thus constructed is sufficiently strong 
to retain and protect the seed till it is ripe. But if the 
seeds were retained in the vessel after they are ripe, the 
purposes of Nature would be thwarted. Accordingly at 
this stage there is a turning-point, and the action of the 
machinery is reversed. The very same qualities in the seed- 



The Seed of the Word is spread. 



39 



vessels that hold fast the seed while it is green, jerk it to a 
distance and sow it broadcast after it is ripe. When the 
pods are dried in the sun the glutinous cement holds , fast, 
the staves of the little barrel are bent, and when at last the 
bursting force overcomes the adhesion, they open with a 
spring that flings the seed to a distance, as if from a sower's 
hand. 

Thus the same mechanism that secures the confinement of 
the seed to one spot while it is green, provides that it shall 
be scattered to a distance when it is ripe ; so that, next 
year, a larger space shall be covered by its growth. By 
this contrivance in Nature, although no human hand were 
near, a whole field would soon be sown by seed from a single 
plant. 

Thus the law in Israel that confined the sacrifices to one 
spot, and so brought Jews and proselytes from all the sur- 
rounding countries to Jerusalem at the Pentecost, threw the 
seed of the Word as by a spring out from Jerusalem into all 
the neighbouring nations. These Parthians, and Medes, and 
Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, were the seed-vessels, 
charged with precious seed at Jerusalem, and then thrown 
back on the several countries whence they had come. In 
this way the gospel was in a single season brought to regions 
which otherwise it might not have reached in the course of 
a century. 

We know, in point of fact, from ancient history that the 
Christian Church sprang up in many widely separated regions 
during the lifetime of the apostles, or very soon after their 
death. This fact finds its explanation in the gathering at 
Pentecost, and the gift of tongues. Take, for example, those 
nations that are first mentioned in the list, and lie eastward 
from Palestine, in the heart of Asia. The Parthians and 
Medes and Elamites were contiguous and allied peoples. 



40 The Church in the House. 



Elam corresponds to Persia, and the two others were closely 
related to that ancient and celebrated kingdom. The Persians 
maintained an empire independent of Eome for several 
centuries after the commencement of the Christian era. In 
ancient times the Persians were fire-worshippers ; and that 
portion of the race who, under the name of Parsees, are still 
found in Western India, adhere to the religion of their fathers. 
The sun is their chief god, but they worship fire wherever it 
occurs. Perhaps these Persians had emigrated eastward 
before their country was overrun by Mahomet. 

We may be assured that the proselytes from Persia would 
experience peculiar emotions when they saw the tongues of 
fire, and heard the gospel in their own language from the 
lips of Galileans. Here is fire that really sheds light on the 
darkness, and kindles life where death had reigned before. 

A Christian Church existed in Persia in the earliest cen- 
turies of our era. In the year 333 it endured a violent per- 
secution, in many respects similar to that which has raged 
against the Christians of Madagascar at various periods in 
the present generation. At one time the principal bishop, 
with a hundred ministers of inferior rank, were put to death. 
The bishop, Simeon, when brought into the king's presence 
for trial, refused to prostrate himself, as he had formerly 
done without scruple ; giving as his reason that the act 
might have been misunderstood when he was called to 
witness regarding his religion and his God. Ordered to 
worship the sun, he refused, saying that the sun was even 
less worthy of worship than the king, as it was not a living 
creature at all. He was sent back to prison for a day, that 
he might have time to reflect. Next day the prisoners were 
all brought out for execution. The bishop and two com- 
panions were kept to the last, in the hope that the sight of 
so many executions would soften them, and induce them to 



e 



Missions. 



41 



deny Christ. He remained firm. One of his friends having 
manifested symptoms of fear, an officer of the king's house- 
hold, named Phusek, a Christian, said to him, " Fear not ; 
shut your eyes but a moment, and you will open them on 
the light of Christ. " When this was reported to the king, 
he upbraided his servant Phusek ; but that Christian witness 
replied that he would gladly give away all the honours the 
king had bestowed, in exchange for the crown of martyrdom. 
His tongue was thereupon torn out, and he died in torture. 

In this persecution the common Christian people were for 
the most part permitted to escape, while the chiefs were 
sought out and put to death. It lasted, with greater or less 
violence, for a period of forty years. 

Nothing could show more clearly than these sad events 
the great extent to which Christianity had spread in those 
early ages. A great harvest sprang in many lands from 
the seed that the worshippers found at Jerusalem — a great 
flame of spiritual life was kindled in the far East by those 
fiery tongues of the Pentecost revival. 



IX. 



MISSIONS. 



"And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What 
meaneth this ? " — Acts n. 12. 

WHEN the noise was heard, the multitude came together, 
and were confounded : they were poured together, 
and lost all distinct thought and judgment. In this state of 
confusion and amazement, some mocked the speakers, attri- 
buting their language to drunkenness ; others, grave and 



42 The Church in the House. 

solemnised, but uncertain, uttered to each other the question, 
« What meaneth this ? " 

We have already endeavoured to reach the meaning of the 
fact for that generation; but it will be profitable also to 
inquire what it means for our own. After the first ages, 
there came a period of feebleness and decay. The Church 
was extinguished in some countries, and corrupted in 
others. The vine that grew on the mountains of Judah, 
and threw its branches westward to the Mediterranean, and 
eastward to the Euphrates, was on all sides assailed and 
cut down. 

In the East it was destroyed ; and in the West, although 
the branches remained in their place, they lost their life-sap, 
and withered. 

After a long period of midnight, the Keformation dawned. 
God granted a revival to the slumbering nations of Europe. 
Jesus seemed to stand, as once he stood at the grave of 
Lazarus, and call the dead to life. The dry bones of the 
valley started up, an exceeding great army of living men. 

It would have been well if the men of the Eeformation, 
when they shook off the yoke of Eome, had betaken themselves 
to this text, and considered the question, * What meaneth I 
this ?" They missed one half of its meaning. They caught 
the Pentecost revival in as far as it meant the getting of \ 
spiritual life for themselves; but they missed it in great \ 
measure in as far as it meant the publishing of the glad L 
tidings in all lands. They received the Spirit, descending as L 
fire to kindle love to Christ, in their own hearts ; but they r 
did not, in any large measure, receive the Spirit as tongues \ : 
of fire, to spread the light through the dark places of the I 
earth. They gladly accepted the privileges of sons ; but they I 
did not with sufficient energy exert themselves as servants. L 
They became Christians, but not missionaries. Their circum- C 



Missions. 



43 



stances, indeed, as compared to ours, were adverse. They 
were involved in controversies, and crushed by persecuting 
wars. 

In our times a great reviving has again visited the Church 
of Christ. Disciples have in the present century again 
learned to know the meaning of the sign from heaven. We 
have enjoyed comparative peace, and we. have at command 
much greater resources. More in the way of talent has been 
given to us, and, therefore, from us more in the way of work 
will be required. The Church of this century has accepted 
this sign both as a baptism of fire for spiritual life in itself, 
and as a tongue of fire to tell in burning words the Redeemer's 
love in heathen lands. 

" What meaneth this ** for the present generation of 
believers ? It meaneth pre-eminently Missions. The best 
paraphrase of the passage was given in the words of the 
Lord Jesus, when he said, " Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel unto every creature. " 

One of the chief external hindrances to the spread of the 
gospel is the confusion of tongues. A strange language, 
which the missionary meets when he crosses a sea or a 
mountain-range, is like a wall that stops his progress, saying, 
" Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. " The men of 
Galilee, at the Pentecost, were enabled to surmount that 
difficulty by a miracle of Divine power. They might have 
sung with David, " By my God assisting me, I overleap a 
i wall. " The unlearned Jews opened their lips to speak of 
I Christ, and the strangers from various countries instantly 
5 heard, each in his own language, the wonderful works of 
e God. A missionary of our day might pine for such a privi- 
yi lege. If a Christian starting from Britain or America, and 
3. j arriving in China, had nothing more to do than open his hps 
)- and preach the Word as if he were at home, the work would 



44 



The Church in the House. 



be easy. Yes, it would be easy ; and, also, it would be easy 
to live, if, by a word of blessing uttered over it, a little bread 
should grow into rations for five thousand men. But this is 
not, in either sphere, the way of the Lord. It would not be 
difficult to prove that the miracle, which occurring once, 
served a great and good purpose, would, if it became the 
ordinary rule, destroy all. Enough, that the will of the 
Lord is, that we should till and sow in order to obtain 
bread ; that we should patiently learn strange tongues, in 
order that we may make known through them the redemp- 
tion of Christ. 

We have greater things than these men of the Pentecost 
enjoyed. We are better off than they. Greater numbers 
are converted every year by ordinary natural speech than 
ever were converted by the extraordinary gift of tongues. In 
the Great Exhibition at London, as far back as 1851, the 
Bible was shown in one hundred and fifty languages. 
Behold, a greater privilege than the gift of tongues, a 
greater than the Pentecost miracle, is here ! This acqui- 
sition is permanent. The way once opened to one hundred 
and fifty different tribes remains open. These canals once, 
by much labour, excavated, remain to convey the living 
water to a thirsty land from generation to generation. The 
miracle of Pentecost did not last long : the flickering light 
of those fiery tongues was soon extinguished. The extra- 
ordinary gift was not itself a permanent substance, but a 
shadow that pointed to something better, and then passed 
away. These polyglot Bibles of the London Exhibition were 
the fulfilment of the Pentecostal prophecy. The sign from 
heaven only pointed out the direction in which our efforts 
should be made, and then withdrew. 

This sign then, for us, manifestly meaneth, that we should 
break forth on every side, and burst through or overleap the 



Missions. 



45 



barrier of strange tongues, and all other barriers that stand 
in the way, and never rest until the kingdoms of this world 
shall have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
Christ. 

Our own tongue has, in the sovereign providence of God, 
been more highly favoured than any other ; and from them 
to whom much is given much shall be required. This lan- 
guage is nowhere now desecrated by a state law to prohibit 
any human being from reading the Word of God. In this 
language there are more Bibles than in any other ; and this 
is the language that is spreading faster and farther than any 
other over the world. The two nations that speak it, Great 
Britain and the United States, are the greatest maritime 
powers ; and together they hold sway over a fourth part of 
the earth, and a sixth part of men. Not only are these two 
nations already so far advanced, but they are advancing at a 
much greater ratio than other nations. God is giving the 
earth to those people who give his Word to mankind without 
restraint and without limit. That tongue which most freely 
circulates the Bible bids fair to become the paramount 
language of the human race. "Them that honour me, 
I will honour." Let the two nations which use in com- 
mon this mother tongue be faithful to the Head and loving 
to each other, and their destiny, even in the near future, 
may be grander than any prophet has yet been able to 
, conceive. 

| This in regard to the tongue ; but what of the fire ? 
i Would that it were already kindled by the Holy Spirit 
i in the secret of believing hearts, wrapping first the Church 
i and then the world in its flame ! 



46 The Church in the House. 

X. 

AN APOSTLE PEEACHES. 

" But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, 
Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto 
you, and hearken to my words."— Acts n. 14. 

IK the life of the Lord himself, it was after the Spirit had 
descended upon him at his baptism that he broke forth 
into a positive, aggressive ministry. In this respect the 
Church, which is his body, follows the same rule. Before 
the mission of the Spirit at Pentecost the disciples remained 
at Jerusalem, and remained silent there. Upward to God 
there was much sighing and crying in the interval, but no 
word going outward to men. It was a time to receive, not a : 
time to give : they waited for one great receiving, which 
should enable them to give out all their life afterward. 

There were, first, prayer with one accord ; next, the 
gracious answer in the gift of the Spirit ; and then the 
positive ministry began. Now the apostles have received i 
power ; and now they will become witnesses for Christ. t 
Beginning at Jerusalem, they will not cease from their q 
labours until all ends of the earth shall see the salvation a 
of God. x 
The multitude who had gathered round the disciples, and y 
had heard the wonderful works of God, were now divided L 
into two portions, — the overawed inquirers, and the light- ga 
hearted mockers. Thus far and no farther can signs and 
wonders go. The work of conversion, in its completeness, is i \ 
due to another power. Although the earthquake and the k 
storm may prove effectual to shake the heedless out of their ^ 
lethargy, the still small voice must come after these signs L 
ere a human soul can be reached with renewing grace. The , j 



An A postle preaches. 4 7 



miracles of Pentecost avail to divide the multitude only into 
two classes : some were solemnised and amazed ; others in 
the vanity of their hearts attempted to laugh down the 
whole matter as a drunken freak. But when the Word is 
preached with the power of the Spirit — the Word of God 
that goes like a sword through the joints and marrow — it 
will be found that the two classes grow into three. Besides 
the mockers, and the solemnised inquirers, the believers will 
emerge — those who receive the word with gladness and live 
by faith. 

Having now received the power, the apostles will immedi- 
ately exercise it. They will seize the opportunity of being 
witnesses for Christ. Peter, as usual, is spokesman. Prince, 
that is, " foremost," of the apostles, he certainly is, in the 
sense that he is always ready to spring to his feet, and to 
speak for himself and his brethren. 

Peter stood up. Possibly there were some private con- 
sultations between him and those who happened to be 
nearest as to who should first speak, and what line of argu- 
ment the speaker should adopt. I could even conceive that 
John stood next the spokesman, and helped him with the 
quotations from Scripture as he went along. It would appear 
also (verse 14) that the whole college of apostles stood up 
while Peter spoke, that they might adopt his words as the 
testimony of all. He lifted up his voice, perhaps in a very 
loud tone, in order to reach the outskirts of the vast congre- 
gation. 

Here the preaching of a completed redemption began. 
This is the first sermon. Since that time the preaching of 
Christ has exercised a great power on the world ; and it 
must continue until, like the sun, the light of the gospel 
shall compass the earth. 

In this first specimen of preaching peculiar honour is given 



48 The Church in the House. 

to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The preacher plants 
his foot on the Prophets and the Psalms as on a sure and 
everlasting foundation. All is grounded on the inspired 
Word. Further, this earliest example of a sermon is in the 
main a narrative. The apostles considered themselves to be 
the witnesses of a fact to the world. They depended neither 
upon argument nor rhetoric : they told a story, and looked 
to God for the power. At a subsequent period, even in 
apostolic times, it became necessary to intermingle doctrinal 
discussion with the narrative of facts ; but at the outset it 
was testimony merely, and it continued to be testimony 
mainly to the last. 

Even now the essence of preaching is the statement of a 
fact. When the Evangelist Luke at the commencement of 
his second book takes a retrospective view of his earlier work, 
he calls it a record of " all that J esus began both to do and 
teach" The doing goes before the teaching, and lies under 
it to sustain, as the foundation sustains the superstructure. 
The teaching is secondary, and subordinate to the acting : 
the teaching is of use only in as far as it explains and applies 
the action. It is what Jesus did that saves ; and preaching 
is valuable only in as far as it explains and enforces his 
saving work. 

Another feature of Peter's sermon is that it presents 
Christ as the fulfilment of Scripture. The disciple had 
learned this from his Master. When Jesus had read the 
text from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke iv. 
16-22) he closed the book and gave it again to the attendant; 
and, presenting himself to the audience, he said, " This day 
is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." It is only when we 
read them in the light of Christ risen that the Prophets and 
the Psalms can be understood. It is when the sun rises 
and shines on them that all the gems scattered over the 



An Apostle preaches. 49 



ground and partly embedded in the earth begin to sparkle 
like stars in the sky. 

Towards the close of his discourse, Peter exhibits great 
skill and boldness in pressing home his doctrine to the 
hearts of his hearers. This is an outstanding characteristic 
of apostolic preaching ; we must adopt this method if we 
would see the kingdom coming in our own day. If we 
draw weapons from the Lord's great armoury, and suspend 
them in the air, that spectators may see and admire their 
sheen and sharpness, and if we then cease, our labour is 
vain. These weapons are made for wounding ; and he 
handles them uselessly and faithlessly who does not bring 
their points to bear on the enemies of the King that lurk 
in human hearts. 

In this case the preaching was successful : the sword 
went home. "They were pricked in their hearts," and 
the wounded sought the Healer. The apostles led the 
convicted to Christ. The words of Peter generated a great 
thirst in many souls ; the thirsty were led, on the instant, 
to the water of life. They gladly received his word, and 
the same day were added unto them about three thousand 
souls. 



50 The Church in the House. 

XI. 

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH. 

" Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto 
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? 
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to 
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with 
many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from 
this untoward generation." — Acts n. 37-40. 

IN order to understand how they received the Word 
"gladly," we must remember that they had been 
"pricked in their hearts." They had been wounded; and 
now the healing is grateful. The Word had wounded ; and 
now the Word heals. A little religion is a painful thing ; 
but more religion takes the pain away. The Word is both 
a hammer to break the rock in pieces, and a balm to heal 
the broken heart. Its first effect is to convince a sinner 
that he is lost; its next, to make the lost rejoice in his 
Saviour. 

It is of first-rate importance to keep these two functions 
of the Word distinct, and to keep the right one foremost. 
To preach a healing gospel where there is no wound on the 
conscience, is like pressing draughts of cold water on those 
who experience no thirst. I know of nothing sweeter than 
water to the thirsty ; but I know of nothing more insipid 
than water to those who are already satisfied. 

The apostles after Pentecost were skilful preachers — they 
rightly divided the word of truth. If you examine Peter's 
discourse, as far as it is recorded here, you will find that its 
specific and consistent aim is, in the first place, to produce 
in the audience a conviction of their own guilt. The 
immediate purpose for which he appeals to Scripture is 



Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 



5i 



to bring home to those Jews who stood before him the guilt 
of crucifying the Son of God. It was not with gladness 
that they received that word : it was with grief, shame, 
remorse. 

It was when the preacher saw that his first word had 
taken effect, that he delivered the second. He has suc- 
ceeded in wounding ; and at the cry of the suffering patient, 
he comes forward now to heal. The old stem had been cut 
off, and the tree is bleeding ; he will turn now the knife that 
is in his hand, and with its other side insert the new graft, 
that there may be a tree of righteousness, the planting of the 
Lord. 

You pour from your phial some burning drops upon a sore : 
their first effect is to increase the pain ; but knowing the 
sovereign power of the remedy, you continue to pour it on 
the ailing place, sparing not for the patient's crying. At 
length the continued application of that which caused the 
pain, takes all the pain away. When the Word of God 
wounds a soul, continue to ply that soul with the Word, 
until the sword that wounded become the balm that heals. 
Then, in this second stage, the hearer will receive the Word 
gladly. 

Indeed, he who receives the Word will receive it gladly ; 
for those who do not receive it gladly, will not long continue 
to receive it at all. The believers were immediately baptized. 
Of many interesting questions connected with this baptism, 
which might in proper time and place be profitably discussed, 
I shall here touch only one. It is clear from the narrative 
that regeneration was not the result of baptism, but baptism 
the result of regeneration. It was when they had received 
the Word with gladness, that they were baptized. The order 
of events is precisely that which the Master had enjoined 
(Matt, xxviii. 19, 20): "Go ye therefore, and — 



52 The Church in the House. 

1. " Teach [make disciples of] all nations, 

2. " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 

3. " Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you." 

In this case Peter and his companions, in striving to build 
up the Church, strove lawfully. They first laid themselves 
out to make disciples of the people. Then, when they per- 
ceived by the successive pain and gladness produced by the 
preaching that the multitude had become disciples, they 
baptized them ; and lastly, it is clear, from the concluding 
verses of this chapter, that these newly-accepted members of 
the Church were successfully taught to observe all the com- 
mandments of the Lord, for their subsequent life abounded 
in faith and charity. 

But a dash of sadness is thrown into the midst of this 
happy scene; for "fear came upon every soul." But this 
points to the outer circle — to those that as yet believed not. 
The conversions — many, sudden, and complete — shone like 
a light in the darkness. The onlookers were startled. When 
they saw so many entering into life, they were smitten with 
a sudden fear lest themselves should be left without and 
perish. 

From the apostle's view-point, however, this fear which 
they observed in their neighbours was a hopeful symptom. 
The example of believers had begun to tell. It is a good 
sign, when those who have hitherto lived without God in the 
world begin to be uneasy. Especially it is a good sign when 
the sight of multitudes pressing through the strait gate 
into the kingdom, stirs in those who are still without, a dread 
of being left behind. When one or more are raised up from 
the miry pit, and get their feet set on a rock, and a new song 
on their lips, many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in 



Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 



53 



the Lord (Ps. xl.) The Christian community, in the fresh- 
ness of a first faith, was suddenly thrown into society ; and 
society was perturbed and put about by the new and 
unwonted presence. If a new planet should be projected 
into our system, it would make the old worlds stagger in 
their paths. Bodies in contact reciprocally affect each other, 
especially in respect of temperature. Pour hot water into a 
cold vessel ; the water contributes to heat the vessel, but the 
vessel also contributes to cool the water. If a constant and 
strong stream of hot water is supplied, it will bring up the 
vessel to its own temperature. 

A process like this goes on continually between the 
Church and the world. Fervent disciples, especially in a 
time of first love, affect with somewhat of their own warmth 
the society into which they are poured ; but society, on the 
other hand, clasping round the converts, affects them with 
its own coldness. The world, being the larger body, will soon 
cool, will soon freeze these few disciples' hearts, unless they 
contrive to maintain constant contact with the Head, and 
continually draw from his fulness. 

A word here to those who live without Christ in the 
world. My friends, I confess that the Church in contact 
with you is more or less cold in spirit. Its faith and love 
are not lively. The visible Church in contact with society 
is not so bright and burning as to arrest and compel your 
regard. The disciples are not so manifestly like heaven as 
to send a thrill of terror through you lest you should fail to 
join their company. If you remain careless, I confess that 
we are much to blame. You have cause to blame Christians. 
But if you stumble over their coldness — stumble so as to 
fall — what comfort will it afford you that you could blame 
the Church for its lukewarmness ? To blame them, even when 
they are blameworthy, will not save you when you are lost. 



54 The Church in the House. 



Lately in this city the father of a family had occasion to 
look over some workmen who were engaged in building a 
house for him. After the work was far advanced, he found 
one of the men lighting his pipe among the dry, light, 
inflammable shavings which were strewn about in all direc- 
tions. Addressing the workman, the owner said, "If my 
house is burned by these sparks, the blame will rest on you." 
Pausing and thinking over what he had said, he added with 
a sigh, " The blame will be yours, but the loss will be mine ; 
for you cannot repay." The thought sank into the proprie- 
tor's heart ; he saw the risk was too great : he went away and 
insured the house. 

Oh, my brother, go and do likewise. Yourselves — not the 
house, but the immortal inhabitant — yourselves are in in- 
stant danger of being lost. Let it be confessed there is not 
such ardent faith in the Church as to awaken a slumberer — 
the Church deserves blame ; but the loss is yours. Go and 
insure. Your soul's life is too much exposed ; hide it in a 
place of safety ; hide it " with Christ in God." 



"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread 
from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of 
heart."— Acts ii. 46. 



HEN you ascend from the centuries that succeeded 



f Y the apostles' days, into the upper stratum of history, 
in which the apostles themselves were actors, you seem to 
emerge from a stifled, airless cave, where all manner of 
fuugous growths luxuriate, into the open field where fresh 



XII. 



CHEISTIAN FESTIVITY. 




Christian Festivity. 



55 



breezes play, and sunbeams glitter, and dew-besprinkled 
flowers shed their varied perfume on the air. In the Acts of 
the Apostles you find not only a purer religion, but more of 
common-sense and manliness, than in the history of the 
Fathers. 

We fall into a great mistake if, while we seek in the 
Scriptures and by prayer for direction in matters of faith, and 
the larger turning-points of life, we leave smaller affairs, such 
as our feasts, our company, and recreations, to the arbitra- 
ment of chance, or the example of the world. " In everything 
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your 
requests be made known unto God." " Whether therefore 
ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God." It is an unspeakable privilege to be permitted to run 
into our Eedeemer's presence with the minor anxieties of 
life, as well as with the great concerns of eternity. In this 
very thing lies the distinctive peculiarity of a child's position, 
as distinguished from that of a stranger. Only on the great 
things may the stranger approach the king ; but in every- 
thing the appeal of a child is welcome to the Father. 
" Casting all your care on him ; for he careth for you." 

Avoiding for the present the question regarding the dis- 
pensation of the Lord's Supper, and the relation which it 
bore in primitive times to the common meals of the disciples, 
we shall endeavour to concentrate attention on the common 
meals themselves, and the manner in which Christians then 
enjoyed them. " They did eat their meat with gladness and 
singleness of heart." But a preliminary to this gladness in 
eating their own food, was a liberal contribution for the 
comfort of poorer brethren, according to the narrative imme- 
diately preceding. Not indeed by a community of goods, 
for it was optional with each proprietor whether he should 
retain his property, and even when it was sold, the proceeds 



56 The Church in the House. 

were distributed by himself according to his own judgment 
of the claimant's need, — not by a community of goods, but 
by a great and general generosity, the believers in Christ 
who possessed substance had satisfied the poor with bread. 
This is a necessary ingredient in the gladness with which a 
Christian enjoys the plenty that may have fallen to his lot. 
The Master reminded us, " The poor ye have always with 
you ; " and he meant that the grace of liberality should not 
die out of our lives for want of exercise. But, supposing 
this duty accomplished, or rather this privilege enjoyed, — 
the larger of the two blessings, that of giving to our brethren 
who are in need, the question remains, What is it to eat our 
common meals with gladness of heart, and how may that 
pleasure be fully and habitually obtained ? 

Although the Lord's Supper was more frequently adminis- 
tered, and in more close proximity to family meals than 
would be possible or suitable now that the Christian com- 
munity has grown so great, it is evident that here in the 
latter clause it is not the religious ordinance, but the common 
meal that is signalised as having been simple and joyful. 
Here the footsteps of the flock have been marked in history 
for us : by this way they went, when they met together to 
eat their daily bread. 

Some may think this is a matter on which examples and 
instructions from the Christian Scriptures are not required : 
some may suppose that eating and drinking is the concern 
of man as such, and provided for in the laws of nature. 
But the Scriptures do claim the control of this matter, and 
lay down rules for its conduct. We need Divine guidance 
even on this natural process. Even here we lack wisdom, 
and should ask it of the Father, who giveth to all men 
liberally. 

Providing, preparing, and partaking of food, is a very 



Christian Festivity. 



57 



important work in the life of man. A very large proportion 
of our time and energy is necessarily devoted to it. The 
three allied questions, What shall we eat, and what shall we 
drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed ? are legitimate 
questions for humankind : they are not evil in themselves ; 
they become evil only in their excess, and when they usurp 
the place of greater interests. It concerns us much to do in 
a right way and a right spirit those necessary acts which 
occupy a large proportion of our time and energy. 

They did eat. These ancient Christians were not hermits. 
They did not deny themselves their necessary food, or the 
company of their kind. In particular, they enjoyed their 
food more by enjoying it together. They acknowledged and 
fell in with that instinct of nature, which craves cheerful 
company and conversation at table. They did not denounce 
and desert convivial meetings. The sight of a friend's face 
and the sound of his voice while we eat, are good gifts of 
God as well as the bread that sustains us, and should be 
received with thanksgiving. It is neither the aim nor the 
effect of true religion to thwart the affections and instincts 
of nature. Grace comes not to destroy these appetites, but 
to fulfil : it comes not to forbid their use, but to purify them 
from the abuses that sin has introduced. A convivial meet- 
ing is an object of dread, particularly to Christian parents in 
our land and day ; but it is not in itself evil ; in as far as it 
retains its etymological meaning, eating together, behold, it 
is very good. It is good in its origin, and it may be good 
again, when the various abominations that the god of this 
world has associated with it shall have been brushed away. 
In convivial meetings the earliest Christians did eat their 
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, before luxury 
corrupted them ; and in convivial meetings Christians might 
yet enjoy the cheerful society in eating and drinking, which 



58 



The Church in the House. 



conduces to health as well as to happiness, if all intemper- 
ance, and frivolity, and licentiousness, were banished from 
the board. 

One good reason for eating our bread with gladness is 
that we have bread to eat. An additional cause of joy may 
be found in the fact that a self-acting machinery has been 
set up in the constitution of our nature, which reminds us 
when nourishment is needed, and compels us to take it at 
the proper time. If this had been left dependent on our 
memory and faithfulness, it would have been grievously 
neglected. It is not necessary that we should painfully 
remember the necessity of sustenance for our bodies, and 
live in fear lest life should through neglect be lost. A 
watcher has been placed within our own being, like the 
ambassador of another sovereign within our own capital, 
whose business it is to see the needful food administered at 
the needful time. That sentinel is faithful, and powerful : 
he never sleeps : and he lacks not compulsitor of pain to 
enforce his commands if we should be slow to obey. Hunger 
seems the twin brother of conscience ; the one watching for 
the health of the body, the other for the well-being of the 
soul : both are gifts of God, and both invested with authority 
over us, for our own good. 

These grounds for gladness in eating our daily bread are 
common to all : but there are other reasons which belong to 
Christians as such. Those who have obtained peace with 
God through Christ the Mediator, have not less, but more 
enjoyment in their food than other men. Instead of merely 
gathering their sustenance from the ground like cattle, they 
enjoy communion with the Father of their spirits every time 
they eat. To give thanks and ask the blessing by one voice 
at the social meal, constitutes the framework through which 
that communion in spirit seeks expression. It is the living 



Christian Festivity. 



gratitude in Christian hearts that has thrown out these 
seemly expressions ; but the presence of the form does not 
necessarily prove that the substance continues to dwell 
within it. These articulate formulas of piety are like the 
shells which molluscs throw out : but the shell, when once 
it has been produced by the energy of life, may remain, 
symmetrical and beautiful, after the living creature has 
wasted all away. Do not despise the external forms ; but 
see that there be life within them. Let there be filial con- 
fidence in a giving God while you enjoy your food, and that 
emotion trembling in the heart will find or frame fit channels 
through which it may flow. 

Singleness of heart accompanied the gladness ; and in 
point of fact, wanting that companion, the gladness itself 
would soon disappear. " A double- minded man is unstable 
in all his ways;" and even in the matter of eating and 
drinking in the company of his friends, the shreds of pleasure 
that come and go never consolidate into a substantial joy. 
In very many cases, the simplicity is destroyed and the true 
gladness consequently lost, by a huge, burdensome, irrational 
luxury. The cares of the meal are sometimes as heavy as 
the management of a small estate. They distract and oppress 
the entertainer. Instead of singleness, doubleness of a very 
troublesome type is the occupant of his heart. One-half of 
his mental vision squints aside to calculate the estimation in 
which the elaborate festival is held by the guests. Simplicity 
may be marred too by the cost of the entertainment in rela- 
tion to the resources of the entertainer. With a few of the 
wealthiest citizens the shoe may perhaps never pinch at this 
i spot ; but with a great number of their imitators it becomes 
i a real burden. Some approach to simplicity in the cost of 
1 entertainments might both replenish the coffers of charitable 
I institutions, and facilitate the settlement of tradesmen's bills. 

i 



6o 



The ChvLrch in the House. 



In relation to these matters our age and nation greatly need 
the old Apostolic injunction, " Add to your faith courage." 
In very many cases it is courage that is needed — courage to 
be singular, and strength to stem the stream. But where 
may we expect to find the virtue that can dare to stand 
alone amongst men, unless in those who already have faith 
in God through the Lord Jesus Christ ? A Christian, who 
may obtain the breath of the Spirit in his sail, should not 
helplessly glide down with the stream. 

Immoderately late hours do much to mar both the simpli- 
city and the heart-gladness of social meals. That very 
lateness, I confess, constitutes an essential element in the 
kind of merriment which a vitiated appetite demands : but 
it is fatal to the calm, deep joy fulness which corresponds 
with our position as disciples of Christ, or even as the intelli- 
gent creatures of God. To turn night into day, and day 
into night, is not simplicity, and cannot promote real glad- 
ness. It is like the transactions within the walls of a 
lunatic asylum, where the opinion might prevail, that people 
should lie in bed while the sun shines, and be active with 
gas-light during the night. What would you think of the 
gardener w 7 ho should cover your green-house with thick 
matting till noon, and make up for the deficiency of light by 
burning lamps beside the flowers at midnight ? You would 
dismiss the man as drunk or incapable. We should dis- 
charge Fashion from the management of our life, as we would 
discharge an inebriate from the care of our flowers or our 
horses. Treat yourselves as you treat your gardens. " Behold 
the lilies of the field, how they grow." Young men and 
young women would be more like the lilies in freshness and 
beauty if they followed nature more closely : and they would 
gain as much in strength of mind, as in comeliness of person. 

I have not yet alluded to that which in our country and 



Christian Festivity. 



61 



our day constitutes by far the greatest danger in connection 
with festivity, — the free use, often running over into the vile 
abuse, of highly concentrated intoxicants. There is ground 
for joy and thankfulness in the comparative freedom from 
excess which generally characterises the entertainments of 
the more cultivated classes in the present day. A portion 
also of the humbler classes have emancipated themselves 
completely from the bondage of intemperance : but very 
large numbers, ranging from the lowest to the highest as to 
social position, are miserably enslaved. The numbers of 
this class, alas, are continually recruited from the ranks of 
the rising generation, through the influence of social customs, 
and the dangerous power of the stimulants in ordinary use. 
Efforts, zealous and protracted, to restrict the traffic on the 
one hand, and to persuade to personal abstinence on the 
other, have shown as yet only very limited results. An 
accumulation of sin and shame, of poverty and crime, pro- 
ceeding from the intemperate use of stimulants, lies on the 
nation and the Church most appalling in the aggregate, and 
heartrending in the contemplation of its multiform details. 
Here is a subject eminently worthy of a Christian's regard, 
especially at festive seasons, and in connection with social 
joyful assemblages. After all the efforts that benevolent 
men and public institutions have been able to put forth, an 
. evil of fearful magnitude remains, — a work of incalculable 
; difficulty still demands the help of all who fear God and 
: regard man. How shall the disciples of Christ most etfec- 
| tually bring each his own influence to bear against this 
I devastating vice ? I shall not presume to supply an answer. 
1 The wisdom that shall answer this question seems not yet 
j to have come to the Church : the Church must learn to feel 
, , deeply the lack of wisdom adequate to the crisis, and to ask 
[i the supply from God. But in the meantime, failing an 



62 



The Church in the House. 



answer, I should count the cause half won, if each brother 
and sister of the Christian family were led, in godly simpli- 
city and without passion or prejudice, to entertain the 
question. Questions are sometimes most precious and 
practically effective, although the answer cannot yet be 
given. When Christians shall individually and collectively 
cease to regulate generally their lives, and particularly their 
entertainments, by the mere mandate of the world's fashion, 
issuing like a Delphic oracle, without a reason from an 
unknown God, and begin to mould their actions, great and 
small, by a glad, free, deliberate purpose, in a matrix consti- 
tuted of the twin motives which bind heaven and earth 
together, — serving the Lord that bought us, and saving our 
brother lost ; then shall the lowest point have been reached 
and passed, — then shall Society, like the earth after Christmas, 
creep gradually out of its winter darkness, and creep forward 
to its perfect day. These two — my Eedeemer's servant, and 
my brother's keeper — are the hedges on the right and left of 
a believer's path, between which, if they are kept up, he may 
walk through the wilderness, without fear of wandering from 
the way. 

It is a happy thing to have a purpose, — a purpose that is 
pure and lovely, — that you can present to your own con- 
science and to God, that you can prosecute in secret without 
meanness, or avow in public, if need be, without shame, 
running through your life and bringing all into harmony. 
And, so far from being inappropriate if applied to the lesser 
and lighter enterprises of life, it is precisely in these that it 
contributes most to safety and satisfaction. Graver matters 
have a certain weight in themselves that contributes to their 
solidity ; the lighter leaves of life need more a sustaining 
thread running through the whole. I call on Christians in 
festive seasons, and in festive companies, not to submit to 



Christian Festivity. 



63 



the restraints of duty, but rather to enjoy freely their 
privilege. It is not required, it is not permitted, that you 
should leave Christ at the door when you enter the guest- 
chamber. If you leave him without when you go in to the 
feast, you need not expect to find him within, your Inter- 
cessor, when you enter your closet and shut the door, and 
pray to the Father in secret. Those who trust in Christ for 
the greatest things, have the right to lean on him for the 
least. Accept the food as the Father's gift; accept the 
feast as an act of his bounty ; accept the company of your 
kind, knit to your heart either by the bonds of nature or the 
bonds of grace; accept that gladness of heart which the 
Maker of men has connected with a social meal. It is a 
needful and a useful part of Christian witness -bearing in 
these days to exhibit meekly, but legibly, on our conduct 
generally, that, while the world and the things of the world 
are not permitted to become our masters, we are not pro- 
hibited from using them as servants ; and in particular, that 
the "gladness," which food eaten in congenial company 
imparts to a human heart, so far from being the exclusive 
property of the profane and careless, cannot possibly be in 
its integrity enjoyed by them, precisely because of their pro- 
fanity and carelessness, but belongs, by the Father's gift 
and the children's unsuspecting appropriation, to the whole 
family of God. 



The Chtirch in the Hotise. 



XIII. 

AT ONCE GODLY AND POPULAE. 

* ' Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to 
the church daily such as should be saved." — Acts ii. 47. 

""PKAISING God:" behold the natural history of the 
JL regeneration. Those who are bought with a price 
are constrained to glorify God. " In everything by prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
known unto God." The thanksgiving is a constituent 
element of prayer. If the prescription is made up without 
this ingredient, it is ineffectual : mere prescription however 
will never produce true thanksgiving : the gratitude which 
comes only through prompting is not gratitude. The real 
emotion is spontaneous, and could not be restrained. As 
soon as Israel get through the Eed Sea, they cluster on the 
cliffs and make the desert ring with their jubilant psalm, 
" Sing unto the Lord ; for he hath triumphed gloriously." 
Who can forbid a song, when persons or peoples are re- 
deemed by the blood of Christ, and satisfied with bread from 
a heavenly Father's hand, that their pent-up emotions may I 
get vent? This is the kind of thanksgiving that breaks ; 
forth from loving hearts on earth and reaches the throne of s 
heaven, — the thanks, not that you draw out, but that you f 
could not keep in. fi 

|p 

" Having favour with all the people/' In the first stage fc; 
of their progress immediately after Pentecost, the Christian ! ( 
converts were not persecuted. The people looked on, Q 
admiring, applauding. They saw a beauty in holiness, when 
holiness in those revival days had the dew of its youth upon 
it, and were betrayed for the moment into an admiration of ; I 



At once Godly and Popular. 65 



a goodness which themselves had not attained. This pheno- 
menon is eminently worthy of observation. On the surface 
lies a difficulty ; but from beneath a precious lesson may be 
drawn. In the matter of favour or enmity shown by the 
world, two opposite experiences alternate in the history of 
the Church. Providential administration does not proceed 
uniformly on one method ; the way of the Lord, rather, is to 
balance two opposites, so as to make them work together for 
good. When hope and holiness adorn the character of 
disciples, the world outside sometimes admire and applaud, 
sometimes revile and persecute. It is not possible to con- 
struct a general rule by which it could be determined 
beforehand in any given case whether the world will favour 
or frown on a company of true disciples. If there be a law 
that determines the sequences of these alternate courses, it 
lies beyond our reach. We might, indeed, conclude on 
general principles that neither the one nor the other would 
be permitted uniformly to prevail. If true godliness should 
always and in all places obtain the favour of the world, 
counterfeits would spring up in such strength and abund- 
ance as would suffice absolutely to smother and destroy 
the truth ; and, on the other hand, if godliness should 
always, and in all places, bring down the world's enmity, the 
spark of Divine truth in humanity might be quenched, and 
the gates of hell at last prevail to blot out Christ's name 
from the earth. The Head on high holds the balance in his 
own hands. He permits as much of the wrath of man to 
break forth as suffices to praise himself by purging his 
Church of its hypocrisy, and then he restrains the remainder 
thereof. 

Although we could not, in the first instance, have in- 
vented this method, we are able to perceive, when we see it 
exemplified in history, that it is the best. When a spark is 

E 



66 The Church in the House. 

imbedded in the flax and it begins to smoke, a blast 
mitted to burst upon it would blow it out ; therefore, the 
blast is by Divine command restrained. But after the fire 
has fairly caught, the blast will spread the flame, and, there- 
fore, it is permitted to blow. The Lord will not permit the 
smoking flax to be quenched by a premature severity. He 
commands a calm till the fire take hold, and then permits a 
tempest to make the fire spread. In those first days after 
the Pentecost, the Christians were not persecuted. Many 
were added to the Church, and the faith of the members 
was confirmed. When the spark had made some advance- 
ment in a calm, the storm that afterwards arose did not 
blow it out, but blew it in. Both these principles may be 
seen alternately operating in society at the present day. In 
some cases godliness wins favour ; in others it stirs enmity. 
All is in the Lord's hand; disciples may well pray with 
Agur that in this matter he would give them neither poverty 
nor riches : — neither too much of the world's favour, nor 
too little, lest grace should be choked under the weight of 
its embrace, or withered by the scorching of its anger. 

If the rule were absolute, The more likeness to Christ, 
the more favour from the world, the faith of the Church, 
like corn sown in land too fat, would grow rank, cleave to 
the earth, and bear nothing but chaff. If on the other hand 
the rule were absolute, The more likeness to Christ, the 
more persecution from the world, the faith of the Church, 
like corn sown on a mountain-top, would wither long before 
the harvest. 

We cannot in any case tell beforehand whether a true 
exhibition of the Christian character will conciliate kindness 
or provoke enmity ; as we cannot tell to-day whether the 
wind to-morrow will blow from the east or the west : but 
both the winds of heaven and the hearts of men are under 



At once Godly and Popular. 67 



law to God although we cannot detect the law or predict 
the result. 

" And the Lord added to the church daily such as should 
be saved." Here again we have a thing with two sides : 
all real things have two sides. The Lord added them ; and 
yet they added themselves. The Good Shepherd carried 
the stray sheep home on his shoulders ; and yet the prodigal 
walked home on his own feet. The sheep and the prodigal 
in these twin parables certainly do not point to different 
persons, but to two sides of the same person. On one side, 
the upper, it is the Lord's doing : on the other side, the 
lower, it is the man's. In this verse we read the historic 
fact, "The Lord added them:" and in the context we hear 
the Divine command, "Save yourselves." At one place the 
saved are " whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord :" 
at another they are "as many as the Lord our God shall 
call." 

When I know myself to be like a withered leaf on the 
stream that flows to a sea of perdition, it is sweet to think 
that help is laid on One that is mighty, and to hope that 
when I am utterly helpless the Lord adds me to his Body, 

I the Church, — to himself, the Church's Head. My comfort 
! in temptation springs not from consciousness of my own 

strength to hold by him, but from knowledge of his strength 
, , to hold me. But woe to the man, who with no liking for 
i ! the presence of the Lord or the company of his people — no 

willingness to crucify the flesh, and press through the 
e L narrow gate, dares to comfort himself in his coldness and 

I I worldliness with the thought, It is not in my power to make 
I ! myself better, I must wait till the Lord put forth his 
w strength. Nay, brother : the Lord is ready now to do it, if 
$ you were willing that it should be done. 



68 The Chttrch in the House, 

"Daily:" every day some. There is no blank in 
birth-registers of God's family. The Lamb's Book of 
has a page for every day of time, and names in every page. 
I suppose some of the pages are more crowded than others. 
At that first Pentecost, as at many seasons since, they came 
as doves to their windows, a great cloud coming at one 
time. At other periods they seem rather one here and one 
there, like the gleaning of grapes after the vintage. 

The Eomish calendar is crowded with saints. They 
cannot find room in the circle of the seasons, for all whom 
the pope delighted to honour. But there are more real 
saints written in heaven than false ones in Eomish heraldry. 
Daily, ever since men were multiplied on the earth, have 
the saved streamed through the strait gate into life, and 
now a multitude whom no man can number inhabit the 
mansions of the Father's house. 

He added the saved to the church : added them in 
the act of saving, saved in the act of adding. He does 
not add a withered branch to the vine ; but in the act of 
inserting it, makes the withered branch live. When pure 
water is drawn from the salt sea, it is added to the clouds 
in heaven. In being drawn from the salt sea, these fresh 
drops are added to the white clouds of the sky. It is thus 
that the Lord adds the saved to the Church, winning them 
from a sea of wickedness, and leaving their bitterness 
behind. 

"Daily" some are added: every day some; but only 
while it is day this process goes on. The night cometh 
wherein no man can work, — not even the Son of Man, Son 
of God. He is now about his Father's business : he is 
finishing the work given him to do. He works, works, 
works, in wrenching lost men from the devil, the world, and 
the flesh, and inserting them as living members of his own 



The Use of Miracles. 



6 9 



body for eternal life. " To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts," for the day is wearing away, the 
day of grace. The night cometh, cometh ; — how stealthily 
it is creeping on, — the night wherein not even this Great 
Worker can work any more. In the last, that great day of 
the feast, Jesus stood and cried, " If any man thirst, let him 
come unto me and drink." 



XIY. 

THE USE OF MIRACLES. 

" And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why- 
marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by 
our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of 
Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified 
his Son Jesus ; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of 
Pilate, when he was determined to let him go." — Acts 111. 12, 13. 

THE healing of the lame beggar at the gate Beautiful, as 
narrated in verses 1-11, needs no comment. There 
the picture stands, full-bodied, as in the stereoscope. Our 
business, like Peter's, lies mainly, not with the fact, but with 
the use to which the fact was applied in the progress of 
Christ's kingdom. 

These Galileans were not alone. The words of the Lord, 
" Lo, I am with you," were still sounding in their ears. The 
Master puts forth the power, and they yield themselves as 
1 his instruments. This is the footing on which the work 
proceeds. Here, in the ministry of the apostles, as also in 
his own, the Lord employs power to cleave a path for grace. 
When the mountains close in and block the way, a miracle 
' will rend them, that the Word may burst the barriers and 
1 spread through the land. 



7o 



The Church in the House. 



Those who refuse to believe in anything supernatural do 
not gain much at this point. They only shift the difficulty 
from one spot to another. The fact remains patent to the 
whole world and undeniable, that in the hands of these 
Jewish missionaries the religion of Christ, with its self- 
denying doctrines, made way against the culture of Greece 
and the might of Eome, — made way until it obtained 
supremacy. This fact, if it is not based on miracles, is 
itself a miracle greater than all. 

The effect of this cure upon the public was a great and 
general amazement. Now was Peter's opportunity ; and he 
improved it with promptitude and skill. The Master in 
calling him had promised to make him a fisher of men ; and 
here the tact and energy of the fisher appear. He knew the 
favourable juncture. "When Peter plied his trade on the 
lake of Galilee, he did not think it enough that he spread 
his net and drew it, in the approved fashion, so many times 
every day. His business was, not to spread his net in an 
unexceptionable manner — in the very manner that all the 
ablest fishermen in those parts had uniformly followed — his 
business was to catch fish ; and toward that end he bent all 
the energy, not only of his stalwart arm, but also of his 
inventive mind. Peter would fish as his forefathers had 
fished, if their method seemed to him best ; but he would 
fish as nobody had ever fished before, if he saw that by a 
new method he could obtain greater success. 

So, now that he has become a preacher of the gospel, 
Peter is not content with delivering, at the proper time, an 
evangelical sermon. He does not think of the sermon or 
the preacher. He thinks of men in their need, and of God's 
grace in their offer now. He rushes in, and strikes home, 
to win souls. He waits and watches till he sees the 
multitude moved and susceptible. As soon as he perceives 



The Use of Miracles. 



7i 



some movement 011 the gathered waters, he follows quickly 
the angel's steps, lest his opportunity should slip away. 

The commotion took the form of a reverential regard 
directed upon the apostles personally. The wonder that 
the people had witnessed drew their eyes to the immediate 
instruments. At that moment the apostles, taught by the 
Spirit, recognised accurately and promptly the precise place 
and use of mighty works in their ministry. Such works 
could not convert the people, but such works then held an 
important place among the means of conversion. The 
miracles broke up the hard ground, and these faithful 
watchers were ready to run in and cast the living seed into 
the open furrow. From this timely sowing a great harvest 
sprang. 

Peter, as usual, is spokesman. I think the modest and 
meditative John would not take a prominent public place 
when Peter was present. Whatever he may have contri- 
buted by private suggestion, he left public work to his more 
forward and more fiery colleague. 

Mark how skilfully the speaker begins. It is no longer 
the affectionate blunder, " Far be this from thee, Lord ; " 
it is no longer the cowardly falsehood, " I know not the man." 
He has now obtained both wisdom and strength. By this 
time the Holy Ghost had come upon him, and he had 
" received power" to be a witness of Christ. He has courage 
to confess his Master now, and skill to arrange his argument 
aright. 

In presence of the healed cripple the people were over- 
awed ; and their veneration, after quivering awhile uncer- 
tain, like a ship's compass in a broken sea, began to settle 
down steadily upon Peter and John as the authors of the 
miracle and the objects of praise. Observing the current 
flowing in a devotion which would soon have developed 



72 



The Church in the House. 



itself into idolatry, Peter ran in, and seized it, and bent it 
aside from the servants that it might flow full upon the 
Lord. "And when Peter saw it, he answered and said 
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this ? 
or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own 
power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The 
God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of 
our fathers, hath glorified his Son J esus," etc. The servants, 
when they saw worship springing up in human hearts, 
hastily retired, and presented Jesus alone to receive it. 

It is eminently instructive to compare and contrast with 
this the conduct of the Lord himself in similar circum- 
stances. When he had read the prophecy in the synagogue 
at Nazareth (Luke iv. 16-22), and all eyes were turned in 
eager expectation toward him, he did not intercept the 
stream, or divert it into another channel. He accepted it 
in full. He closed the book and removed it ; then he 
presented himself to the people as the fulfilment of the 
prophecy, and the expected Messiah. The absolute contrast 
between his method and that of the apostles in such a case 
is peculiarly valuable, as showing incidentally the Divinity 
of Christ. 

In the meantime, Peter's fidelity affords a fine lesson 
both to preachers and hearers of the gospel in all times. 
Through the ministers, if possible, as earthen vessels, let 
the word of life come ; but let the ministers present, and 
the people receive, only the Lord himself as the bread of 
life. 

It is said that when Leonardo da Vinci had finished his 
celebrated picture of the Last Supper, which still stands on 
the wall of a convent in the city of Milan, he introduced a 
friend to inspect the work privately, and give his judgment 
regarding it. "Exquisite!" exclaimed his friend; "that 



Wounding to Heal. 



73 



wine-cup seems to stand out from the table as solid glittering 
silver." Thereupon the artist quietly took a brush and 
blotted out the cup, saying : " I meant that the figure of 
Christ should first and mainly attract the observer's eye, and 
whatever diverts attention from him must be blotted out." 
Here is a devotion which, in a more enlightened age, we 
should do well to imitate. 

It is an aim of the ministry to get listless people aroused 
and interested. It is a great point gained when a multitude 
are gathered together round the preachers in Solomon's porch, 
greatly wondering at the word or the work of the Lord. 
But woe to the preacher who lacks the wisdom or the will 
to lead the aroused and interested listeners at such a crisis 
direct to Christ ! 



But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted 
unto you ; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead ; 
whereof we are witnesses. " — Acts hi . 14-26. 



HEN" Peter observed that his audience was becoming 



T T tender, he hastened forward to them with the Word : 
but it is not in the first instance a word of comfort that he 
administers. His first effort is to wound. He brings a 
sharp accusation ; he heaps coals of fire on their heads, when 
he sees these heads already beginning to droop. Not that 
the apostle takes pleasure in putting his countrymen to 
grief. He is glowing all over with love to these men of 
Israel, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Seeing them 
already quivering, he deals another blow, in the hope that 



XV. 



WOUNDING TO HEAL. 




74 The Church in the House. 

thereby he may break altogether the already yielding heart ; 
for as soon as the cry, " What must we do ? " shall burst from 
broken hearts, the healing balm is ready. God " hath 
glorified his Son Jesus ; whom ye delivered up, and denied 
him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let 
him go." Pilate, the Eoman, from a natural sense of justice, 
desired to save the innocent ; but ye, the Israel to whom he 
came, denied him, and compelled the governor to put him 
to death. Never was a sharper sword pointed at naked 
breasts ; and never did a mightier thrust send the weapon 
home to the marrow : " Ye killed the Prince of life. " But 
it is the physician and not the enemy who is piercing here. 
He wounds in order that the distressed may seek the Healer. 
At verse 17th he changes his voice. He withdraws the 
weapon as soon as its work is done. As soon as the preacher 
sees that that the dividing Word has taken effect, he begins 
to give consolation. I think it was Whitefield who, when 
his audience of coal-miners was so large that he could not 
read in the distant faces the emotions of their hearts, per- 
ceived by certain white streaks, like African tattoo, made by 
coursing tears on sable cheeks, that the Word had cut into 
the conscience. This was for him the turning-point. The , 
strokes for wounding may now safely cease, and the healing ( 
work begin. \ 

Changing his voice, Peter the preacher begins to insinuate 0 
a tender consolation. He will present the truth on another \ 
side. He had said, " Ye killed the Prince of life : " but now 
he informs them that it is of God that Christ should suffer, L 
the just for the unjust. 

There are two opposite ways in which the blood of Jesus L 
may be upon men : " His blood be upon us and upon our j| 
children ! " exclaimed the Jewish leaders, when they had L 
hemmed Pilate in, and extorted from him the sentence of [, 



Wounding to Heal. 



75 



death. Ah ! that was not the blood of sprinkling for the 
pardon of sin. It was the blood of Christ upon them, but it 
did not cleanse. It was the blood of the curse, not the blood 
of blessing. At first, and for a specific purpose, Peter speaks 
of the blood of Christ in that evil sense. He takes it and 
pours it on the murderers' heads, a scorching flood. But 
when the work of conviction is done, he addresses himself to 
the work of saving ; he takes that same blood in his other 
hand and pours it out for blessing. The blood of Christ, 
although shed by them, is presented now as the blood shed 
for them — is presented now not as their sin, but as their 
redemption from sin. 

It was a great transition ; and it was suddenly made. But 
the same transition all the new-born make ; and most of them 
make it quickly. It is like a leap from Christ crucified by 
you, into Christ crucified for you. From trampling under- 
foot the blood of the covenant, they pass over to take shelter, 
like the Hebrews in Egypt, under the besprinkled lintel, safe 
from the angel of death, and ready to march out free towards 
the promised land. 

" Now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it : " 
and so he opens up to the convicted a door of hope. The drift 
of the discourse changes to tenderness. So, when the frost 
has congealed the ground into rock, the sun and rain beating 
on it make it broken and contrite ground — a fitting soil for 
the seed of the kingdom. 

Then in verse 18th the preacher carefully engrafts his 
gospel upon the Scriptures of the Old Testament : " But those 
things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all 
his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. " 
The New Testament grows upon the Old, like branches in 
the root and stem. If you undermine Moses, Christ, as far 
as you are concerned, will fall. Chaos will return. Dark- 



7 6 



The Church in the House. 



ness will again be on the face of the deep, and no Spirit of 
God will move upon the waters. 

Those who eat out, by acid drops of criticism, the authority 
of the Old Testament, intending to hold fast by Christ and 
his gospel, are victims of a delusion. These blessed flowers 
and fruits cannot grow on a dead root. 

When I was young, I took pleasure in ornamenting the 
front of my father's cottage with flowers. One particular 
effort was eminently successful, and attracted the notice of 
every visitor. By budding, I inserted several fine kinds of 
roses on one common root. For two or three years the 
flowers of various hues, flourishing simultaneously on one 
stem, became a spectacle to the rural neighbourhood. But, 
alas ! the original stem, not chosen as suitable for the purpose, 
but adopted as it happened to be there, was not a hardy 
species. There came a night of severe frost. The plant 
that sustained my beautiful branches died, and all my 
beautiful branches died with it. Alas ! for men in whose 
hearts the Divine authority of Moses and the prophets is 
withered by the frost of a hard, cold, earthly philosophy. 
Faith cannot grow upon Kant and Hegel, when God has 
departed from Moses and the Psalms ! 

That is not the first of Christ when the Babe is born in 
Bethlehem. Before the foundation of the world he took his 
people's place in the eternal counsel. As soon as men needed 
a Saviour he appeared for salvation in the promise spoken at 
the gate of Eden. Christ interpenetrates the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament through and through. The Plant of 
Benown that appeared in man's sight in the fulness of time 
has a root that goes down to the beginning. If you cut away 
the word which holy men of old spake as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost, you cut through that root, and your own 
hope withers in your breast. 



The First Persecution. 



77 



XVI 

THE FIRST PERSECUTION. 

"And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple 
and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the 
people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And 
they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day : for it 
was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed ; 
and the number of the men was about five thousand." — Acts rv. 1-4. 

THE persecution has begun. Peter's discourse was rudely 
interrupted. The preacher was speaking very winsome 
words (iii. 26) when his mouth was closed. He was making 
Jesus — that new name — sound sweetly in the people's ears. 
He was making offer of redemption to Israel in the clearest 
words and in the most tender spirit ; but " as they spake 
unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple 
and the Sadducees came upon them." So it has happened 
from the beginning hitherto : persecutors are blind. In all 
lands and all generations they endeavour to extinguish the 
light, because they love the darkness. 

The first persecution of Christ's disciples exhibits, in its 
main characteristics, the type of all that have followed. A 
corrupt and cruel priesthood, in possession of office, gave the 
word, and led the way ; and they were never at a loss to 
find some " captain of the temple " — some person who 
nominally held a civil office, but might be employed as a 
willing tool. 

Whether the high priest at that time was personally a 
Sadducee is not certainly known ; but it is evident, both 
here and in verse 1 7 th, that the sect of the Sadducees sup- 
ported the officials with all their influence. These men of 
the short creed were at that period either in or out of office. 
If they were in power, they wielded the machinery of the 



78 



The Church in the House. 



hierarchy to suppress the preaching; if they were not in 
power, so zealous were they in the work, that they entered 
into alliance with their rivals to make it quick and sure. 
Those who were at daggers-drawn against each other, com- 
bined to put this doctrine and its preachers down. Herod 
and Pilate become friends in order that Christ may be again 
crucified in his members. Those who believe very little 
may become persecutors as well as those who believe very 
much. Sadducees and Pharisees combined against the gospel 
of Christ. 

"We obtain here a clear glimpse of the work which these 
apostles were engaged in when they were thus interrupted : 
" They taught the people, and preached through Jesus the 
resurrection of the dead." The infant Church was charged 
with grand lessons, and she did not keep them secret. From 
the first the apostles made it their business to publish all 
they knew. The resurrection of the body, although not first 
revealed, was illustrated and confirmed by the gospel. After 
the Lord had risen, it became so much clearer and surer that 
it seemed to be a new revelation. 

This doctrine they taught " in Jesus." Accustomed as we 
are now to assume the resurrection without reasoning, we 
cannot well conceive how great the fact of Christ's resurrec- 
tion seemed when it was thrown upon the world. After the 
darkness that had covered the nations, and the comparative 
dimness of the light that shone in the Old Testament record, 
it seemed in this respect a new world for humankind when 
Jesus first raised Lazarus and then himself from the grave. \ 
When the apostles desired to teach the doctrine, they pre- 
sented the fact. 

These new teachers addressed their lessons to "the people." 
The gospel, wherever it is preserved pure, exhibits a broad 
and hearty sympathy with the mass of the community. 



The First Persecution. 



79 



This was given by its author as a mark of his mission : 
" To the poor the gospel is preached." It does not overlook 
"the people;" it does not oppress or hoodwink them; it does 
not keep them in ignorance in order to make them docile to 
authority : it teaches them. It appeals to their understand- 
ing while it wins their hearts. " The common people heard 
Him gladly;" and well they might then; well they may 
now. " If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed : " 
there is no other security for popular liberty. Wherever 
the Word of God is concealed, the people are oppressed. 

The gospel is not an eclectic, aristocratic system. There is 
no respect of persons with God. His word addresses itself 
to the common people, to enlighten, emancipate, and purify 
them; but it never flatters their prejudices, or palliates 
their sins. 

The apostles elevated the poor man by teaching him, in 
Jesus, his own immortality. They might well get the ears 
of the multitude when they had such a tale to tell. This 
doctrine raises the poor from the dust, and sets them among 
princes. These preachers were truly levellers; but they 
"levelled up." They made all equal, not by materially 
bringing down the high, but by spiritually elevating the 
lowest to the place and name of God's dear children. 

It grieved this heterogeneous band of Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees to observe that these grand lessons were taught to 
I the multitude. It is sad in any case to be in such a state of 
mind as to grieve over a neighbour's good. But there was 
, a measure of conscientiousness in these primitive persecutors. 
. They thought they were doing God service. It is this vein 
of truth and reality running through it that has imparted to 
" persecution its perseverance and its power. The most fear- 
j Iful crimes are perpetrated at the instigation of conscience, 
j, when it is dark and depraved. Conscience is not a safe 



8o 



The Church in the House. 



guide for man if it be not enlightened and purified by the 
Word and Spirit of God. "Not conscience, but the Scriptures 
spiritually understood and conscientiously applied, are the 
rule of human life. 

" They laid hands on them, and put them in hold." Pro- 
bably the act of arrestment was performed by " the captain 
of the temple," on a hint from the high priest. Like their 
successors of Eome, they found it convenient to have a 
pliant magistrate at hand as their executor. The apostles 
did not on this occasion dispute the authority under which 
they suffered. These priests possessed jurisdiction, but they 
did not judge righteous judgment. They imprisoned the 
apostles in the meantime, and adjourned the case. 

" Howbeit, many of them which heard the word believed." 
Man proposes, but God disposes. The more that the adver- 
saries attempted to extinguish the light, the more brightly it 
blazed. " The number of the men was about five thousand." 
Probably at this time two thousand were added to the three 
thousand who were formerly admitted into the church. 
The specific term " men " in this case may be used in the 
looser sense of persons ; or it may be that no women were 
present. 

Already the Christians were a large family. The corn of 
wheat had fallen into the ground and died, therefore it is 
not now left alone. A great harvest has quickly sprung. 
Christ exalted, sees here of the travail of his soul and is 
satisfied. The stream of the new-born has begun to pour 
into the house of many mansions. The stream has flowed 
from that day to this, without intermission, as waters that 
fail not, and yet there is room. There is joy in heaven, not in 
the angels, but in their presence — that is, in Him whom they 
all adore — over " one sinner that repenteth ; " and therefore 
a flood of five thousand joys that day filled the Ptedeemer's 



Add to your Faith, Courage. 81 

heart on high. The Shepherd who misses one sheep that 
strays will not fail to mark each prodigal that returns. Each 
entrant adds another articulate delight to him who bought 
them with his blood. The joy set before him — the joy 
made up of the aggregate of all the saved, as the ocean is 
composed of water-drops — was very great ; and for the sake 
of it he endured the cross and despised the shame. 

These revival seasons, when they come in thousands, like 
doves to their windows, will be happy eras, marked as harvest- 
homes in heaven. The gate is open : many are pressing in. 
Come : whosoever will, let him come. There is pleasant 
company by the way, and an abundant entrance at the close. 
Eeader, when he maketh up his many jewels, will you and 
I be there ? " Now is the accepted time : now is the day of 
salvation." 



XVII. 

ADD TO YOUR FAITH, COURAGE. 

" And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by 
what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy G-host, said 
nnto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be 
examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is 
made whole ; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that 
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God 
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 
This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become 
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is 
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they 
were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled ; and they took knowledge 
of them, that they had been with Jesus."— Acts iv. 7-13. 

THE key-note of the last stanza is still sounding in our 
ears : the number of the men — saved men — was about 
'five thousand. These more crowded parts in the way of life 

F 



82 



The Church in the House. 



are memorable in earth and heaven. The expanse of time 
when it is over will, in the Saviour's eye, be like the expanse 
of heaven now in ours : the milky way, everywhere bright, 
exhibits at some places a glory that excelleth, where re- 
volving worlds, like dust of gold, are more thickly strewn 
upon the blue. That day when the first stroke of persecution 
fell on the first preachers will be a bright day in the annals 
of the kingdom. The page allotted to it in the sealed book 
will be deeply laden. In the family register it is the birth- 
day of many sons. 

"On the morrow" the court sat, and the panels were called 
to the bar. The Sanhedrim seems at that time to have been 
packed by the relatives and partisans of the high priest. 
The accused had nothing to expect from their judges ; but 
they trusted in God, and possessed their souls in patience. 
Eeferring to the cure of the cripple, the court demanded of 
the apostle in what kind of power and in what kind of name 
they had effected that miracle of healing. The Jewish 
leaders, during the life and ministry of Jesus, in order to 
explain his miracles, broached the theory that by aid of the 
devil he cast the devils out. It is probably an idea of this 
kind that suggests the question of the court. 

A third time Peter speaks, and a third time bears witness 
for Christ with great fulness and boldness. These successive 
witness-bearings of Peter are all framed on one model, all 
strike the same note. In every one there is — 1st, A Scrip- 
tural argument, more or less full, identifying J esus with the 
Messiah of the prophets ; 2d, A plain, piercing charge, laying 
the guilt of crucifying Christ to the door of his audience 
and judges ; and, 3d, A tender and pressing offer of mercy, 
through the blood of Christ, to his murderers. 

Like his three confessions, Peter's three denials also were 
all conceived in the same strain. With circumstantial 



Add to your Faith, Courage. 83 



differences, they were substantially the same : " I know 
not the man ; I know him not ; I know not what thou 
sayest." 

How like each other, too, were the Lord's three questions 
addressed to Peter in order to complete his restoration ! 
Thrice the question pierced the repenting disciple's ear, 
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" and thrice the 
answer echoed from the repenting disciple's burning heart, 
" Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." By the same spirit 
this apostle, strong now by faith, emits the threefold con- 
fession of his Lord. 

These were not the only occasions on which Peter bore 
testimony to Christ in the beginning of the gospel. Both 
he and his fellow-labourers did much that has not been 
recorded ; but I think it is of the Lord that at the outset of 
his public ministry three successive confessions of Peter's 
faith have been recorded in fulL He had fallen more than 
any of the faithful eleven ; and correspondingly fuller evi- 
; dence is given that he had not fallen away — that through 
the intercession of the Lord his backsliding had been com- 
pletely healed. 

After this period, although Peter appears as a performer 
j of miracles, an exhorter of believing Jews, and a messenger 
to a Gentile family, he does not come forward again in this 
history as a public preacher. He gives place first to Stephen, 
next to Philip, and ultimately to Paul and his missionary 
associates. 

The most remarkable feature in the three successive 
, j examples of Peter's preaching is the indictment, charged 
: directly home upon the consciences of his hearers, that 
they were the crucifiers of Christ (Acts ii. 23 ; iii. 14, 15 ; 
e iv. 10). He found that this sharp method was successful 
j the first time, and therefore repeated it. It was thus that 



8 4 



The Church in the House. 



Nelson's victories were won. When the enemy's ships 
were extended in a line before him, he formed his into a 
column, pierced their line with its point, and fought them 
from the other side. Finding this method successful, he 
always followed it. 

The boldness of Peter as a witness here is amply accounted 
for by the intimation that he was " full of the Holy Ghost." 
The Master had fulfilled his promise, and the servant was 
thereby enabled to execute his task. Cause and effect are 
as clearly connected in this experience as in the processes 
of Nature. Wanting the Spirit, Peter was not able to bear 
witness for the Lord in presence of a serving-maid ; with the 
Spirit, Peter held his judges fascinated by the glance of his 
eye, while he pierced them with his word. This apostle 
experienced the truth of Paul's paradox on both its sides : 
"When I am weak, then I am strong;" and when I am 
strong, then I am weak. 

Peter interprets the prophecy about the Stone rejected by 
the builders as Jesus had interpreted it in his hearing (Matt, 
xxi.) He applied it directly to the Messiah whom the J ewish 
priests had slain ; and added, " Neither is there salvation in 
any other." There has been at various periods much foolish 
disputation on the question whether there be any salvation 
beyond the pale of the Pope's Church. Away with all these 
profane babblings ! It is not out of this Church or out of 
that ; it is, Out of Christ there is no salvation. This is the 
only limit that God has set : it is blasphemous as well as 
foolish to suggest any other. 

Behold the arraigned and accused man ! He arraigns and 
accuses his judges — convicts his judges. Nay, more, he 
stands at their bar and offers them mercy ; he proclaims to 
them the free pardon of their sin through the blood of Jesus 
whom they crucified ; he warns them with tenderness and 



Add to your Faith, Courage. 



85 



calmness which must have struck terror into their hearts, that 
unless they accept mercy by this channel, no mercy will ever 
reach them. This Name, this manifestation of God, is given 
among men. It comes from heaven to earth. It comes to 
save, not to destroy ; but it will not save those who reject 
it. By this Name we must be saved, or perish. 

The judges were amazed at the boldness of Peter and 
John. But as they wondered, some one recognised the two 
men as having been seen in company with Jesus ; and this 
accounted for their courage. Companionship with Jesus 
makes a hero, the enemy being judge. But is there any need 
or room for heroism in our plain, prosaic days ? Persecution 
for conscience' sake has, indeed, in its grosser forms long 
ceased in our country. We have no opportunity of display- 
ing precisely that form of courage which the Sanhedrim 
observed in Peter and John. But heroism is needed yet in 
the world. A Christian needs the boldness which is attained 
only through companionship with Jesus. 

Many fall miserably in life's battle for lack of courage — 
fall before ignoble foes. It were less discredit to show the 
white feather in presence of the prison and the scaffold ; but 
our youth strike their colours to meaner terrors. And yet, let 
me do justice to the men of my own generation. The adver- 
saries are, indeed, softer individually, but they are mightier 
in the mass. The sword, indeed, does not penetrate the flesh ; 
the fire does not wrap itself round the living body ; but the 
world's course, like a river composed of many soft drops, rolls 
downward in a vast volume, and carries even strong swim- 
mers away. "When acts are weighed in the balance of the 
upper sanctuary, it may possibly appear that as much bold- 
ness is needed to stand in our day, and withstand, all our 
days, the constantly- sucking stream of vanity and earthliness, 
as it required at the beginning of the gospel to be faithful 



86 



The Church in the House. 



unto death against principalities and powers. But the con- 
clusion of the whole matter is, that near the Lord — con- 
sciously enjoying his favour and leaning on his love — near 
the Lord we shall be able to resist the greatest of our 
enemies ; far from him, we shall fall before the least. 



XVIII. 

EVERY CREATURE AFTER ITS KIND. 

" And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the 
chief priests and elders had said unto them." — Acts iv. 23. 

A SECRET, mysterious, reciprocal attraction drew Peter 
and John together, although the two men were by no 
means similar in character. They were companions in their 
visit to the empty sepulchre, and companions in the danger- 
ous duty of preaching Christ in J erusalem immediately after 
the Pentecost. Perhaps the difference, or even the contrast 
between them in natural disposition, rendered them more 
suitable to each other for mutual help. As a man's strength 
and a woman's gentleness bind two into one in married life, 
the robust, impetuous Peter clung to the calm, self-possessed 
tenderness of J ohn ; and John, in his weakness, was fain to 
lean on Peter's strength. 

This noble pair of brothers, when their own love was warm, 
and the hatred of their enemies sharp, stood side by side in 
the courts of the temple and in the streets of the city, charg- 
ing home upon the Jewish rulers and people with the terrible 
indictment, " Ye have crucified the Lord ready, whenever 
the sword of the Spirit should pierce the conscience of the 
hearers, to run in and apply for healing the blood of atone- 
ment. 



Every Creature after its Kind. 8 7 



Grieved that these two witnesses should teach the people, 
through the risen Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the 
Sanhedrim had arrested Peter and John at the close of their 
day's labour, and shut them in prison for the night. 

How the two prisoners spent the night we are not in- 
formed. Perhaps they sang praises, like Paul and Silas at 
a later date ; or perhaps they were not yet so far advanced. 
It may be that they could not do more than secretly cast 
their burden on the Lord, without being able as yet to glory 
in tribulation. 

Next day the Council called the prisoners and examined 
them. Having heard from Peter more of plain truth than 
was pleasant to their taste, they ordered the panels to 
be removed from the bar, and consulted privately regarding 
the case. 

The aim of the judges was not to arrive at the truth, 
but to crush the witnesses. There was not much debate, 
and their resolution was quickly taken. They recalled 
the prisoners, and straitly threatened them that they 
should speak thenceforth to no man in the name of Jesus. 
Lame and impotent conclusion ! They omitted the main 
element from their calculation. They knew not the fire 
that the love of Christ had kindled in the hearts of those 
two men. 

Suppose that some savages have seen a cannon charged 
and discharged. Suppose that when they saw it charged 
a second time, dreading the consequences, they should 
gather stones and clay, and therewith ram the cannon full 
to the muzzle, by way of shutting in the shot, and securing 
the safety of the neighbourhood. They know not the power 
of gunpowder when it is touched by a spark. This is the 
sort of blunder into which the Sanhedrim fell. They thought 
they could stifle the testimony of the apostles by ramming a 



88 



The Church in the House. 



threat of punishment down their throats. They knew not 
the power of faith in Christ, when it is kindled by a spark 
from heaven. 

Peter and John did not deceive their judges. With 
beautiful simplicity and sublime courage they answered, 
" Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto 
you more than unto God, judge ye." These Jewish rulers 
have committed a blunder. They have summoned the sea 
into their presence, and proclaimed to it, Hitherto shalt thou 
come, but no further ! 

" We cannot but speak the things which we have seen 
and heard." It is by no means a universal rule that every 
man is bound to proclaim all that he has seen and heard. 
Many things that we see and hear it is both our inclination 
and our duty to conceal. It is the peculiar nature of the 
message which these men have received that lays an obliga- 
tion on them to make it known. The condition on which 
any one receives mercy in the covenant is that he should 
hasten to publish the glad tidings abroad. When a polished 
gem receives a sunbeam on its surface, it is under a natural 
necessity of spreading out the light in all directions ; and 
so a human soul that receives the light of life from the face 
of Jesus is under law to let that light shine before men : 
" Freely ye have received, freely give." 

After another interdict against preaching Christ, the 
prisoners were dismissed from the bar. It is intimated that 
the Court would willingly have adopted a severer measure, 
but were restrained by a fear of the people. This is an 
illustrious specimen of special providence. When God has 
given out his decree, " Touch not mine anointed, and do my 
prophets no harm," he has suitable instruments always at 
hand to execute his will. The people, as such, would be a 
broken reed for any persecuted witness to lean upon. At 



Every Creature after its Kind. 



8 9 



the next turn of the tide it might become necessary that a 
military chief should rescue an apostle from a mob that were 
ready to tear him limb from limb. This is the doing of the 
Lord. The shields of the earth are his : now with one and 
now with another he covers his servants' heads in the day of 
battle- 
Accordingly, the two apostles were dismissed; "and 
being let go, they went to their own company." Behold a 
particular fact occurring under the operation of a general 
law. Like draws to like. When an evil deed was about 
to be done, the persecutors assembled and laid their heads 
together : when the Christian mission was about to issue 
from Jerusalem upon the world, the disciples of Christ con- 
gregated in an upper room for prayer. Birds of a feather 
flock together ; and if one bird has been for a time 
imprisoned — separated from its companions — it is beautiful 
to see, when the cage is at length opened, how straight and 
quick is its course through the air to the place where it left 
its mates and expects to find them again. On this prin- 
ciple proceeds the pigeon- telegraph, which has been long 
known in the world, but never attained the magnitude of a 
great national institute till the necessities of the siege forced 
it to the front in Paris. 

The instincts of animals are like the laws of inanimate 
matter — perfect in their kind. When one lamb is caught 
and kept for a time separate from the fold, it submits only 
bo superior force. As soon as it regains liberty, it bounds 
icross the plain, and never halts till, with beating heart and 
oanting breath, it has pressed into the midst of the flock 
igain. 

With equal exactness in an opposite direction, the sow 
hat was washed returns to wallow with her fellows in the 
lire. Thus suddenly and surely did a worldling, who had 



90 The Church in the House. 



for a time been arrested by the discourses of Jesus, leap back 
into his element of filthy lucre. As soon as a pause in the 
sermon let him go, he went to his own. When the Lord 
had finished one of his lessons in the midst of a promiscuous 
audience, one of the company cried out, " Master, speak to 
my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." The 
word of Him who spake as never man spake had fascinated 
even this man, and for a moment separated him from his 
chosen company and conversation. But the word that 
arrests attention does not always renew the heart. As 
soon as the voice of the preacher relaxed, and let go the 
momentarily entranced listener, he bounded back into his 
element. He rushed after his covetousness, as water 
flows down when some interrupting barrier has been re- 
moved. 

An example of the opposite tendency in a renewed heart is 
exhibited in the experience of the possessed man whom the 
Lord delivered at Gadara. Satan had bound him soul anc 
body, and separated him from all good ; but when the 
chain was broken by the Eedeemer's word, the liberated man 
ran to his deliverer, and sat at his feet, clothed and in his 
right mind. Being let go, he too went to his own — to his 
own Saviour and his own fellow- disciples. It is good when 
the spring in the heart is sound, and a Christian, by a strong 
instinct of the new nature, as soon as he is freed from alier 
entanglements, bounds back into congenial company anc 
congenial employment. 

It is sometimes remarked, that when persons who at home 
maintained a Christian profession, have gone abroad — gon 
to a distant colony where ordinances were wanting, or to i ^ 
Papal country where ordinances were superstitious, — the^ C 
have left their religion behind them, and abandoned them 
selves to godless pleasures or godless gains. In these cases^ 



0 



Every Creature after its Kind. 



9i 



as the result proves, the religion was an external thing from 
the first. It was of the nature of a bondage. At home the 
cords of the general Christian profession of the country 
were sufficiently strong to keep the man away from the 
employments and company that he secretly loved ; but when 
these cords were broken by the simple fact of his removal 
from home, he was a free man, and like other creatures, 
animate and inanimate, when he was let go he went unto 
his own. Thus worthless, in ^he last resource, is the 
Christianity which acts as a restraint to prevent a man 
from following his own inclinations : beyond expression 
precious is the faith in Jesus which takes the inclinations 
and changes them so that they instinctively seek the pure. 
This false religion of bonds is the direct contrary of the true. 
Christ's work is a redemption ; Christ is a Eedeemer. He 
sets the captive free. " If the Son make you free, ye shall 
be free indeed." This glorious grace turns upside down the 
^ world which blindly counts religion so much restraint, to 
which some men prudently submit, with a view to a larger 

I return in a future life. The man who only submits to the 
restraints of religion, runs wild in all evil when these 
restraints are removed. " Create in me a clean heart, 0 
God." " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy 

\ \ power." " I will run in the way of thy commandments, 

II r when thou hast enlarged my heart." 

W A young man has been accustomed from childhood to the 
order and sobriety of a Christian household. As the lines 
of restraint were laid on him while he was an infant, and 
! iave never been removed throughout his youth, he is not 
/evy vividly conscious that they are only external bands 
-hat confine him within the course of a well-favoured 
a norality. The time arrives at last when he must leave his 
• ather's roof and be lost to view in a great metropolis, like 



9 2 



The Church in the House. 



a drop of rain when it falls into the lake. Now is the 
moment of danger to that youth ; now, if ever, for him is the 
hour and the power of darkness. He feels himself alone as 
if he were in the heart of an American forest. If his 
religion has been only a cord round his neck, like the 
bit and bridle with which a horse is held, he is now free 
from his religion. If his religion is a thing that can let 
him go, he will depart to his own : he will seek the com- 
pany and occupation of the careless, it may be of the 
profane. 

Cords of this sort were fastened on Judas, and as long as 
they remained they confined his evil practices within very 
narrow limits; but when at last he was let go, what a 
fearfully sudden leap he made to his own — his own course, 
his own company, and his own place. 

Demas was brought and kept for a time under the mighty 
influence of Paul. But the hold which even such a natural 
leader took, could not always be maintained. It gave way 
one day, and to the present world, his own chosen portion, 
gravitated Demas, as a stone sinks to the earth when you 
let it go in the air. The love of Paul could not hold him — 
Paul was not crucified for him. The love of God shown to 
men in the gift of his Son, a bond soft and silent, but 
omnipotent, like that which keeps the planets in their places, G 
when once it is folded round you, cannot be wrenched i< 
away. 

But we may find many bright examples of the same ! 
principle on the opposite side. The new creature acts after 
its kind, as well the old; when the chains of bondage are !i > 
broken, the captive returns to his Father's house. 

A youth who has already gotten a new heart and enjoys a 
blessed hope, has been sent as an apprentice into a great ll 
engineering establishment, where several hundred men are ) 



Every Creature after its Kind. 



93 



employed. His lot is cast in a corner of the huge workshop 
occupied by a group that have grown old and bold in 
profanity and licentiousness. In the first hour they discover 
that a saint is among them, and with a malignity altogether 
devilish, they gloat in anticipation over their prey. The 
ribaldry and blasphemy are increased : they do everything 
that ingenuity can suggest to rub off the youth's religion, 
and make him such as one of themselves. If his religion 
had been a conventional gilding on the surface, it would 
have been rubbed off in the first week ; but as it was all 
steel, the more roughly it was rubbed the brighter it 
grew. 

The first day wore on towards evening : at six o'clock the 
bell, in a small tower over the gateway, was rung, and every 
man threw aside his tools, and hastened away. The appren- 
tice engineer, articled by an eternal covenant to Christ his 
Saviour, and thereafter indentured to a master engine-maker, 
was at length let go. Let go, he went to his own : — to the 
fields, the flowers, the birds, with which he had been wont 
to keep company at home ; then to his food, which he 
enjoyed with the fresh relish of a labourer, and the fresher 
0 relish of a child of God constantly getting daily bread from a 
Father's hand ; then to the Bible, his own book, the gift of 
God to him ; then to his own Saviour, in faith's confiding 
prayer. A whole legion of devils, or wicked men, will not 
Dvercome this youth. The anchor of his soul is sure and 
e steadfast within the veil. God will shield him at first, so 
;hat the fiery darts shall not hurt him, and after a little put 
i sword in his hand — the Sword of the Spirit, which is the 
SVord of God ; and this weapon he will wield aggressively, 
o as to subdue some of these enemies, and lead them captive 
into Christ. 

Yet another lesson. The grave has a greedy appetite, and 



94 



The Church in the House. 



a firm grasp. It takes many, and keeps what it gets. Deep 
in the earth, and deeper in the sea, lie the bodies of those 
who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. A strange 
place for Christ's members to be in ! But there they shall 
not always be. They must one day be let go ; and when let 
go, they will return to their own — their own Eedeemer, and 
their own rest. 

An atom of atmospheric air may have been imprisoned in i 
some strong vessel at the bottom of the sea for ages. After 
thousands of years that vessel at last gives way and breaks up. 
The atom of air, although it has been long an exile, has not 
forgotten its home, and will not miss its way. Whenever 
it is released, it rises in a sheer straight line through the 
thick heavy waters — rises a little air-bell, nor halts in its j 
course, until, emerging from the sea with a gentle, joyful, 
bursting sound, it reaches its own, — the heaven, the home 
which it left many ages before. 

Be of good cheer, disciples of the Lord Jesus. Ye are of : 
more value than many atoms of air. Doth God in nature I 
care for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, and 
the elements of matter ; and how much more shall he clothe 
and house you, 0 ye of little faith ! The grave must relax its J 
grasp. Its stubborn nature has been already tamed into; 
obedience. The Lord has risen, and become the first-fruits 
of them that slept. The way by which he went stands open, i 
and through it all his members will return to him. Earth 
and sea must give up their dead, and the released prisoners 
will unerringly find their way home. According to the' 
power and the constancy of Nature, which is the power andj 
constancy of God, like will draw to like at last, — the living m 
to the living, the living saved to the Living Saviour. 



The Prayer of the Primitive Church, 



95 



XIX. 



THE PEAYER OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 



" And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, 
and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, 
and all that in them is : who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, 
Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things ? The kings of 
the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, 
and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom 
thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and 
the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand 
and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their 
threatenings : and grant unto thy servants, that with boldness they may 
speak thy word."— Acts iv. 24-29. 



iETER and John, providentially delivered from the hands 



JL of the persecutors, plunged into a meeting of their 
fellow-disciples, and forthwith reported all that had happened. 
] The company, as soon as they heard of the danger that had 
5 threatened, and the deliverance that had been wrought, 
| forthwith " lifted up their voice to God " and prayed. They 
)' were neither cast down nor uplifted. They did not propose 
; to try this method or that method of improving their 
, circumstances. They proposed no plan. They lacked 
{ wisdom and strength, and in their need applied to God by 
prayer. 

I Prayer is not the origin of a movement. It is the result 
i of one that preceded. You stand on the margin of a High- 
, 3 land lake, and hear a mysterious but distinctly articulate 
[ j sound coming from the dead wall of a grey ruined castle 
, i that stands on a miniature island not far from the shore. 

The sound, however, was not generated in that ruin. 
I It could not generate a voice. The words of a living man 

on the shore, wafted over the still water, struck the old 




The Church in the House. 



silent keep, and its wall gave back the echo. If that living 
voice had not struck the wall, the wall would have remained 
dumb. 

Prayer — man's cry to God — is the second of a series of 
vibrations. The voice of prayer, on earth, is an echo 
awakened in ruined, dumb humanity, by God's sweet promise 
coming down from heaven. In general, prayer is the echo 
of a promise; in particular, we may discover the specific 
promise to which this prayer replies (Isa. xl. 26, 27). 

What a sublime position these suppliants occupy ! They 
are admitted into the Divine counsel. " The secret of the 
Lord is with them that fear him." They knew that all 
these events were foreseen, and would be overruled for good. 
They were able to mark in the Scriptures the precise spot 
they had reached in the scheme of Providence, as a ship- 
master marks his latitude on his chart. In the quiet 
confidence of faith they realise and confess that the combina- ! 
tion of princes and peoples — of Jews and Gentiles — to put 
to death the holy child Jesus, only accomplished the gracious f 
purpose of God. These principalities and powers of the \ 
world imagined that they were quenching the kingdom of I 
Christ in its infancy ; whereas they were the unconscious \ 
instruments of laying its foundations deep, and spreading \ 
its influence through the world. 

Now, in verse 29th, comes the most important of all their 1 
requests. Petitions sent to Parliament are sometimes of I 
considerable length. There may be a narrative of facts, long I 
and intricate ; there may be the citation of precedents ; there 
may be arguments and pleas ; but it is common to pass over p 
all these when the document is presented, and read only k 
what is denominated " the prayer of the petition" — that is, i 
the clause at the end which declares articulately what the 
petitioners want — what they wish to be done for them, or \ 



The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 97 



given to them. Verse 29th contains the prayer of the peti- 
tion. It expresses what the petitioners desire — what they 
would be at, if they had their will. 

It is most interesting and instructive to mark what they 
really crave. Not a word of vengeance on their enemies. 
In the recital they have clearly described the cruel injustice 
of their adversaries ; but they do not follow up that recital 
by a request for punishment. Neither do they plead for 
immunity from danger for themselves. There is a recital of 
their danger ; but not a petition for safety. The request is, 
not that they may be shielded from persecution, but that 
they may have grace to be faithful under it. " Grant unto 
thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy 
word. " 

It is a beautiful example of distrust of themselves and 
confidence in God combined. They feared lest the danger 
which threatened their persons should intimidate them in 
their work. Their anxiety was lest their natural shrinking 
from suffering should tempt them to conceal the pungent 
parts of their testimony in order to shield themselves from 
persecution. They were jealous over themselves with a 
godly jealousy. They were conscious that nature within 
them shrank instinctively from pain and shame. They 

1 knew that to proclaim the whole counsel of God would gall 
the men who had the power of life and death in their hands. 
They feared, accordingly, lest they should be tempted to 
make the gospel more pleasant for the sake of peace. 

The application of this Scriptural example to our own 
circumstances is attended with some difficulty ; and yet it 
may be made with certainty and success. It is difficult to 
:lear our way here, but not impossible. 
The circumstances of our place and time seem to be so 

t liverse from those of the first preachers, that no direct lesson 

Gr 



g 8 The Church in the House. 

from their experience can be transferred to ours. JNo per- 
secutor dare raise a hand against a minister here and now, 
to prevent him from declaring the Gospel in all its fulness. 
We are free : and yet the pressure which tempts to timid 
unfaithfulness is only removed from one side and applied to 
another. The fear of man bringeth a snare ; and ever since 
Peter said, " I know not the man, " the feet of even true 
witnesses have, in all generations, been often entangled 
miserably in its toils. But snares are not all of one shape 
or of one material— either the bodily snares of the fowler, 
or the snares set for the spirit by the wiles of the wicked one. 
They may be of iron or of silk. They may be varied 
indefinitely in matter, form, and position, according to the 
character of the victim, and the opportunities of the ensnarer. 
A force that is diffused and soft, may exercise a greater 
pressure than one that is sharp and hard, as the atmosphere 
over a man's body lies heavier on him than any other burden 
he ever bore. 

To threaten a witness for Christ with the prison or the 
scaffold is one way of turning him aside from faithfulness ; 
to set before him the favour of a polished but worldly circle 
is another. You may, if you please, pronounce that the man 
who should weakly yield to these soft seducements is a far 
less noble specimen of humanity than those men who quailed j 
before a scaffold, and held their peace to save their lives ; \ 
although, even here, something might be said on the other , 
side. But the distinction is of no practical importance. If } 
the seductions of modern society do, in point of fact, deflect \ 
the compass of the witness as far aside as the ancient \ 
persecutions, the difference in the character of the instrument : 
makes nothing in the result. 

If two ships are lost at sea by the false pointing of their 8( 
compasses, it will make no difference either as to the loss of r- 



The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 99 

property or trie loss of life, that the compass of the one ship 
was prevented from pointing truly by a nail that fastened 
it to the deck, and the compass of the other ship secretly 
drawn aside by a mass of iron concealed in the hold. In 
both cases, and in both alike, the compass failed to declare 
the truth, and that faithlessness caused the loss of the ships. 
Thus an ancient minister of the gospel who held back the 
truth for fear of the dungeon, and a modern minister who 
softens and disguises the truth because a gay, worldly, 
critical congregation listen to the Word, must stand side by 
side, repenting and pleading for the pardon of their unfaith- 
fulness. On the other hand, an ancient minister who pro- 
claimed the whole truth with a halter round his neck, and a 
modern minister who, fearing God and having no other fear, 
declares the whole counsel of God to every class and every 
character, will stand together at the great account to hear 
the approving sentence, "Well done, good and faithful 
servants : enter ye into the joy of your Lord. " 

The request is simple, specific, and full : " Grant unto 
thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy 
word. " 

1. That they may speak, and not be dumb. Speech is a 
chief gift of God, a chief prerogative of man. Where there 
is a living spring, it finds or makes a channel through which 
it may flow ; and where there is a living soul, it finds or 
makes an avenue of egress. A soul cannot be imprisoned 
1 in a body of flesh, as a spring cannot be imprisoned among 
' the mountains. Either life, according to its nature, must 
I have a means of outflow. On the other hand, where 
i there is no spring, no channel is needed, and none is found. 
Among living creatures, accordingly, where there is not a 
soul, there is not speech ; but in that one creature who was 
l made in the image of God — into whom God breathed a living 



IOO 



The Church in the House. 



soul — there is speech, the open channel for its forthgoing. 
Eeverence human speech. It is the mark of a being who 
has been made, and may be re-made, a child of God. Eever- 
ence human speech, for it is a divinely formed capacity for 
a divinely prescribed use. Dread false speech, proud speech, 
impure speech, profane speech, — for these are the bright 
weapons with which the King has accoutred us wielded 
against the King. High treason ! 

"That they may speak;" for why should they be silent 
who have tasted that the Lord is gracious ? Let them tell 
to all who are willing to listen what the Lord hath done for 
their souls. Let the compressed love which glows in 
renewed hearts find utterance in spoken praise. Bless the 
Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits ! 

In another aspect it behoves all who hear to speak. 
Silence is sin, if your cry might prevent a neighbour from 
stumbling over a precipice. Silence is sin, if neighbours are 
treading the broad path that leadeth to destruction, and 
your word might lead their steps into the way of life. 
Silence is sin, if a believing brother is sliding back, while 
your loving reproof might become to him a healing balm. 
Silence is sin, if a believing brother is oppressed with doubts 
and fears, while your lips might pour the consolations of 
God into his weary heart. 

The prayer points mainly to a public ministry, and yet 
nothing is said about sermons — nothing said even about 
preaching : " Grant unto thy servants that they may speak." 
Whether the address be long or short, whether the audience 
be many or few, whether the style be eloquent or stammering, 
the pith and marrow of the whole matter is, that one man, 
hoping in Christ and loving his neighbour, speaks to that 
neighbour about Christ's redeeming love. All preaching 
may be reduced to this. Out of this, as the germ, all true 



The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 101 

preaching springs. If its whole mass were by some chemical 
process reduced to its elements, this would be found the 
essential residuum remaining indestructible after all orna- 
ments and accessories had been melted away. I suppose 
Philip preached pretty fully to the anxious Ethiopian in the 
desert ; but the Spirit in the "Word performs that chemical 
analysis which we have imagined, and retains only that 
ultimate and indestructible essence of the discourse, which 
is small in bulk and easy of transmission — Philip "preached 
unto him Jesus!' 

2. The prayer of these primitive Christians is " that they 
may speak thy word." The word of God supplies alike the 
authority and the material of preaching. The seed is the 
word ; the sower need not scatter any other in his field. 
This alone is vital — this alone will grow. 

3. Their ambition is to speak the word of God "with 
boldness." Let no man assume too readily that he has 
attained this qualification of a witness. In this depart- 
ment, all is not gold that glitters. Beware of counterfeits 
in these payments, for a considerable quantity of base coin 
is in circulation. To rasp like a file on other people's 
tender points, because you have no tender points of your 
own, is not the boldness for which these disciples prayed. 
In that species of courage some of the inferior creatures 
greatly excel us. 

An essential constituent of courage is tenderness. In 
feudal times, when military valour held the supreme place 
in universal opinion, the prevailing conception, although 
disfigured by some foolish and grotesque features, contained 
a basis of truth. Battle courage was held to be only one 
half of a knightly bearing; the other half consisted of a 
tenderness, in some cases almost feminine. Tenderness is as 
essential to spiritual as to secular heroism. The boldness of 



102 



The Church in the House. 



speech which costs the speaker nothing is neither beautiful 
in itself nor successful in its object. It is like a stroke on 
hollow wood ; instead of penetrating the beam, it rebounds 
in the face of the operator. 

Paul was a bold man, but he was not an unfeeling one. 
It was a bold word that he addressed to certain professors at 
Philippi, and he spoke it once and again — " Ye are enemies 
of the cross of Christ but he wept as he spoke. These 
tears did more to make a way for the reproving word into 
the joints and marrow of the culprits than all the sharpness 
of the reproof itself. Observe a mechanic boring through a 
bar of iron. He has a properly-formed instrument of steel. 
This he turns quickly round, under a strong pressure, upon 
the bar which he desires to perforate. But this is not 
enough. If only on the hard beam of iron a harder point of 
steel were pressed and turned, they would set each other on 
fire. But the skilful operator quietly drops oil on the point 
of contact, while he plies his task. This anointing keeps 
the instrument from heating, and carries it through. These 
tears of Paul served the same purpose for the Philippian 
backsliders that the mechanic's oil- drops served for the iron 
beam. Human tenderness baptized by the Spirit poured on 
the point of contact, when the sharp sword of the Word 
is pressed against a brother's heart, prevents the pressure 
from begetting a burning heat, and carries the weapon 
home. i 

To my mind there is hardly a more melancholy spectacle 
in this world than that of a man, orthodox in faith but 
coarse in the natural grain, who rattles out his censures on 
all and sundry who differ from himself without an effort and 
without a pang; looking down, meanwhile, with contempt 
on men of greater modesty as unfaithful to the truth. The? 
stream of words that condemns a neighbour, without scalding j 



The Prayer of the Primitive Church. 103 



the speaker's own skin as it flows, is like the clack of a 
windmill set up to frighten birds — as hard and as wearisome, 
and as powerless. The greater the boldness any man ven- 
tures to exercise, the greater tenderness he needs to attain. 
The boldness which those primitive confessors asked and 
obtained was saturated with a sanctified human tenderness ; 
and this was the secret of their power. 

4. In their eagerness for effective work, they desire to 
speak with all boldness. Even courage may be partial and 
one-sided. This virtue vanishes whenever it begins to show 
respect of persons. That is not true courage which is severe 
to the poor but quails before the rich. As the water of a 
reservoir will be completely lost unless the circle of its lip 
be kept whole on all sides, all the dignity and power of 
boldness vanishes when it fails on one point. 

Perhaps the weakest point of all the circle for every man 
is himself. If courage is needed to speak the truth to a 
neighbour, it is still more needed in dealing with ourselves. 
A surgeon needs firmness. If he faint at the sight of blood, 
he has mistaken his profession. He needs a stout heart 
when he is called to operate on other men ; but he is much 
more liable to flinch if he need to operate upon himself. 
Alas ! we lack courage to press the sword of the Spirit home 
to the root of the ailment when it is seated in our own souls. 
Strike, and spare not for the patient's crying. This old 
prayer is a word in season still : grant unto thy servants 
boldness. Nerve this arm to strike this blow. 



io4 



The Church in the House. 



XX. 

POWER TO BE WITNESSES. 

"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled 
together ; and they were all rilled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the 
word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were 
of one heart and of one soul : neither said any of them that aught of the 
things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus : and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any 
among them that lacked : for as many as were possessors of lands or houses 
sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them 
down at the apostles' feet : and distribution was made unto every man 
according as he had need." — Acts iv. 31-35. 

THESE feeble Christians in the upper room moved the 
Hand that moves the world. The place was shaken, 
but not the people. The ground trembled, but they had 
found another resting-place. God is our refuge. 

"When they had prayed, the place was shaken." It is 
after, and in answer to the prayers of his people, that the 
Lord arises to shake the earth. Quick and strong vibrations 
have of late been felt in the political sphere. Some mighty 
thrones have fallen under the shock, especially the anomalous 
throne of Peter's pretended successor at Eome. The supports 
of the Pope's temporal power in Austria and Prance were 
successively undermined, and the kingdom that leant on 
them has accordingly fallen. Prayers have long been 
ascending to the Lord of hosts for the downfall of that great 
tyranny, and at last the sword that has often been stained 
with the blood of saints has been wrenched from the 
usurper's hand. 

The shaking of the ground after the prayer of this per- 
secuted company was a sign that their prayer had been 
heard. They had expressly acknowledged God as the maker 



Power to be Witnesses. 105 



of heaven and earth. In answer to this portion of their 
prayer, he gives them a token that almighty power is at 
hand for their protection. The commotioDS of our day are 
encouraging rather than otherwise to the disciples of Christ : 
" He that believeth shall not make haste." Hollow hypo- 
crisies are shaken down, in order that the things that cannot 
be shaken may remain erect (Heb. xii. 27). 

But besides this symbol of power, a more specific answer 
was given to their request ; for " they were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word with boldness." 
They did not fear their enemies, but they distrusted them- 
selves. They dreaded not danger, but they dreaded lest 
danger should shake them from their steadfastness. Now 
they have obtained what they asked, and they are at ease — 
at ease as is the magnet of the compass on board ship in a 
surging sea — steady when all else is moving — fixed because 
loose — fixed to its pole in the distant heavens, and all its 
holds slackened from below. The steadiest thing on a 
shaking world is a disciple whose life is hid with Christ in 
God, and whose heart is loosened from its cleaving to the 
dust. His weight hangs on heaven, and the shaking of the 
earth under his feet does not imperil his position, or disturb 
his repose. 

The apostles stood forth as leaders. They were endued 
with great power ; and yet all that was required of them 
was to be witnesses of a fact. Their power was exerted in 
giving "witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." 
, Christ had specially promised them power to be his wit- 
nesses, and now that promise was fulfilled. Peter has 
recovered from his weakness now. It is no more " I know 
not the man." 

The main characteristic of their witnessing was not great 
! eloquence, or great learning, but great power. When you 



io6 



The Church in the House. 



travel by night through a mining district, you see mighty 
volumes of flame throbbing fitfully from the mouth of lofty 
furnaces, and illuminating for miles around the nocturnal 
sky. This phenomenon is the ordinary accompaniment of 
power, but it is not the power. You must approach the 
bottom of the furnace, and examine whether miniature 
streams of white hot lava are coursing forth in prepared i 
channels along the smoking ground. This — this is power. 
The heat in the heart of the furnace is melting the ore, and 
the metal, separated from its dross, is flowing out pure. The 
great flickering flame is not by itself the proof of power. In 
like manner there is often a blaze issuing from a really 
effective ministry of the gospel, which attracts the gaze of a 
miscellaneous multitude ; but there is also sometimes such 
flame flung up against the clouds where there is no melting 
heat below. We should not despise the conspicuous and 
dazzling accompaniments, for they may be the sparks that I 
naturally and necessarily rise from a melting heat; but 
neither should we trust in them, for they may be the pith- 
less flash from blazing straw. God grant the great power in 
secret, with or without the visible demonstration. 

The power seems to have been a special gift bestowed 
upon the apostles, but a suitable portion was imparted also j 
to the whole company, — "great grace was upon them all." 
A specific example of the grace displayed by the disciples 
is immediately recorded — the grace of liberality and brotherly 
love. This is a great grace, and, like other great things, rare. 

They abandoned themselves at that time to a ruling passion. 
They did out-of-the-way things ; they were singular people. 
If they turned the world upside down, they had themselves 
first of all undergone the same change. Instead of the 
native and habitual greed of the old man, gravitating to self 
as matter gravitates to the ground, there appeared the self- 



Poiver to be Witnesses. 



107 



sacrificing love of the new man — the man created anew in 
Christ Jesus for the very purpose of producing fruits like 
these. In this new appetite the new man takes after Christ. 
Every creature after his kind, and the new creature too. It 
is good to be singular in the world, when the singularity 
consists in greater comformity to the Saviour's will and way. 
Not singularity for its own sake — that is a contemptible 
thing ; but the courage to obey the law of Christ, although 
obedience should make you singular. 

The disciples now experienced the truth of the Master's 
prediction, — " In the world ye shall have tribulation." No 
promise had been given of exemption from danger. The 
world was not so changed that the disciples should not need 
defence ; but they were so changed that they possessed 
within their own souls a complete defence against the 
world's assault. Their protection consisted of these two 
woven into one — namely, courage to bear witness of Christ, 
and brotherly love among themselves. Towards those who 
were without, unflinching courage ; towards those who were 
within, open-handed charity. The world had cause to say 
two things with equal emphasis regarding them — first, 
behold how these Christians defy us; and, second, behold 
how these Christians love each other. 

Alas for the Church in our day ! Surely we are weak on 
the two points where they were strong — courage to bear 
witness for Christ, and fervent charity among ourselves. 
The atmosphere of the society in which Christians live seems 
to have grown thicker in these last days. It is like a frozen 
sea, in which all things grow hard and cold. The breath of 
life seems to freeze. A melting is needed — the baptism 
of fire. 



io8 



The Church in the House. 



XXI. 

A SON OF CONSOLATION. 

" And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being 
interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 
having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' 
feet."— Acts iv. 36, 37. 

ANOTHER outburst of generous love occurred in the form 
of selling their property and distributing the proceeds. 
This law and its limitation were noticed in connection with 
an earlier example. But now, besides the general intimation, 
two specific examples are submitted — a true and a false. 
Barnabas and Ananias are photographed in the Word, that 
all generations may learn, by specimen as well as by descrip- 
tion, the difference between genuine and counterfeit charity. 

The name of this good man was Joses, and the name 
Barnabas, by which he is now universally known, was 
attached to him by the apostles, in order to express the 
character which he displayed. This name was given to indi- 
cate a nature. They called him the Son of Consolation be- 
cause he was a succourer of many, and a comforter of the 
downcast. 

He was a Levite, and yet he possessed land. This is 
contrary to the old economical law in Israel ; but probably 
at that period, on account of frequent and great political 
changes, it was found impossible to maintain the ancient 
constitution in its integrity. 

Barnabas is indeed a good name when you learn what it 
means. Alas! how rife is its opposite — the Son of Complaint 
— of gloom. To such a man everything appears in its darkest 
colours. He looks at the earth and the sky through a yellow 
glass. He sees no green on the earth, and in the heavens 



A Son of Consolation. 



no blue. It is not so easy to remove the jaundiced glasses 
from the eyes of the mind as to take away the coloured 
medium which impeded your enjoyment of the landscape. 
Functional derangements of the body through disease some- 
times also supervene to tinge still further the atmosphere 
through which the spirit looks. 

Barnabas, we may be well assured, did not grudge his gifts. 
He was not grieved when a call for another contribution 
came. He was a great giver, and yet he was a cheerful 
giver. The Lord loved Barnabas. 

I conclude that Barnabas had much comfort himself, for 
he had much to bestow on others. If we see streams flowing 
from the well's brim to refresh the neighbourhood, we may 
be assured that the well itself is ML 

The great contributions which he made did not embitter 
his spirit. The flow of bounty from that man's hand acted 
as the flow of water from the drain on the ploughed field — 
it sweetened and made fertile the whole breadth of his life. 
It is the gorging up of the water for want of outlet that 
makes the land sour, and leaves it barren ; and it is the 
habit of holding in all for self that spoils the pleasure and 
profit of life. 

A Son of Consolation is a fine character. He who has 
consolation gives it ; and he that gives it, has it. The more 
of it you have, the more you give ; and the more you give 
to others, the more you retain for your own use. This is 
not one of the things that perish in the using. Like the 
bread in the hands of Jesus, it multiplies as it is given out. 
It increases by expending, and diminishes by hoarding. In 
the matter of comfort, or consolation, "there is that scattereth 
and yet increaseth ; but he that withholdeth more than is 
meet, it tendeth to poverty." 

To possess consolation is to give it, and to give it is to 



no 



The Church in the House. 



possess it. This circle, when it is set agoing, moves per- 
petually, like the sea giving out its waters to the sky, and 
the sky sending back the boon by the rain and the rivers to 
the sea again. Nor is the consoler cut short in his labours 
for lack of supply. As the trouble grows greater, the corre- 
sponding comfort increases. However deep the distress may 
be, he has a heaven above his head deeper than the abyss 
below, to fill it all with joy. His resources consist of " the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily/' and in that ocean he will 
never touch the ground. 

Barnabas was a Levite ; — but why take note of his pedi- 
gree, since all are one in Christ ? There is a reason. In 
estimating character and giving each his due, there are two 
opposite extremes, into one or another of which human judg- 
ments, under the influence of various prejudice, continually 
tend to fall. Men err sometimes on this side, sometimes on 
that : the Word of God marches in the midst and holds the 
balance even. It throws out an arm to uphold him who is 
ready to stumble, now on the right side, now on the left. 

The priests and their order, supported by the Pharisees, 
counted themselves righteous and despised others. Speaking 
for their reproof and instruction, the Lord, in the parable of 
the Good Samaritan, represented the priest and the Levite 
as self-pleasing and unloving — consulting their own ease, 
and refusing to help one who was ready to perish. This he 
did in order to show them that a sound creed and a scrupu- 
lous ritual could not compensate for the neglect of charity. 
He taught them that although they were of the family of 
Levi, and enrolled in the ranks of the hereditary priesthood, 
if they had not charity, their privileges profited them 
nothing — their profession was as sounding brass and a tink- 
ling cymbal. 

But the Lord did not teach that all the Levites were hard- 



A Son of Consolation. 



1 1 1 



hearted ; for here, by the pen of the same historian, Luke, 
the hedge is planted on the other side of the path. There 
were then, and there are to-day, certain persons and classes 
who entertain strong prejudices against all ministers of 
religion. They seem to have persuaded themselves, or, 
at least, try to persuade themselves, that ministers as a rule 
are hypocrites. Accordingly, they delight to tell or to hear 
stories in which ministers of religion are represented in an 
odious or ridiculous light. This result is extremely natural : 
we have no reason to expect that it should be otherwise. 
The hypocrites, of course, deserve to be so treated ; and the 
true cannot altogether escape, because their testimony really 
gives discomfort to people who do not yield to it. To put 
the witness in the wrong feels like putting themselves right, 
as the sight of a train running backwards on a near and 
parallel line of rails, beguiles you into the belief that your 
train is running forward. 

Barnabas was a Levite — a religious teacher. The profane 
of his day would have been comforted if they had been able 
to quote the parable of the Samaritan to show that the 

j Levites were all sneaking, selfish fellows. But the Lord 
comes in to protect the innocent. Barnabas was a Levite, 

i but he was not cold and cruel. The opposite graces grew 

, in his life, thick and fruitful like wheat in a harvest field. 

: This passage is the counterpart of the parable — the hedge on 
the other side of the road. 

He was of the country of Cyprus, an island in the 

1 Mediterranean. Even at that date the J ews were dispersed ; 

j yet they endeavoured in their exile to maintain the distinc- 

i tion of tribes. In respect to his birthplace, he came out of 

■ a bad nest. Cyprus was occupied by Greeks, and latterly 
had been subdued by the Bomans. But as it lay near the 

■ • eastern shore, its people partook of the Phoenician and 



112 



The Church in the House. 



Oriental character. They were heathen, and more. The 
worship that prevailed was abominable even among heathen 
systems. Their religion consisted in the consecration of vice. 
As a Jew, Barnabas in his youth must have been carefully 
kept apart from these profligate rites; but still he was 
brought up in an atmosphere of extreme and exceptional 
wickedness. Can any good thing come out of Cyprus ? In 
the Master's experience, the servants may obtain ground of 
hope. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He can bring a 
clean thing out of an unclean. As the sun draws up pure 
water to the sky out of stagnant pools, cleansing it in the 
act of drawing it out ; so the Lord by the beaming of his 
love can bring a bright witness to himself from amongst the 
most degraded population. Barnabas was of the country 
of Cyprus. 



" But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 
and kept back a part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought 
a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet," etc. — Acts v. 1-10. 



HO illustrate the remarkable development of brotherly 



JL love which appeared among the first disciples, the 
historian adduces two characteristic specimens. The first 
is the case of Barnabas, the subject of our last exposition ; 
the second is the case of Ananias, which invites our atten- 
tion now. 

The two cases sprang from the same movement, and 
equally illustrate the same principles ; yet the two cases are 
not like each other. They are reciprocally opposites. But 



XXII. 



THE BEACON: ANANIAS. 




The Beacon: Ananias. 



this is, in most cases, the best method of throwing light on 
any subject ; it is the ordinary way, both in the Bible and 
providence. Both in the sacred record and in common 
history examples of two opposite characters are frequently 
submitted, in succession or simultaneously — examples of 
the good that should be imitated, and of the evil that should 
be shunned. It is as necessary to moor a buoy over a rock 
or a sand-bank, as to show a light in a line with the safe 
entrance to the harbour. Barnabas the Levite, by his deeds 
of self-sacrificing love — Barnabas is a light at the pier-head, 
streaming outward through the night, marking for the 
mariner the way of life : Ananias, dying with a lie on his 
lips, buoys a rock where many have perished, and warns the 
wayfarer from the place of doom. Though the two men are 
not alike good, both examples are for us alike useful. The 
death of them that die may work for our good as much as 
the life of them that live. We may reap profit alike from 
the truth of the true, and from the lie of the false. 

When the Lord would teach his disciples how to pray, 
he did not count it enough to exhibit the publican, standing 
afar off, and smiting on his breast, and crying, "God be 
merciful to me a sinner." He placed near that humble and 
true suppliant a solemn hypocrite thanking God that he was 
not as other men. When the Master taught his disciples 
the blessedness of pressing in while the door is open, he 
taught them also how dreadful it is to be, even by a little, 
too late. Of the ten virgins, five were wise, and five were 
foolish. The wise win souls — their own ; and the foolish 
lose them. This dual method is adopted everywhere in 
Scripture to enforce moral lessons. In morals as well as in 
physics, you exert greater power if you apply at the same 
time an attraction on the one side, and a pressure on the 
other. Israel of old, and Israel now, are more effectively 

H 



ii4 



The Church in the House. 



impelled toward righteousness, if the curse and the blessing 
are proclaimed, simultaneous or alternate, from two opposite 
hills. 

" But a certain man." The little word " but" is the hinge 
on which great issues turn. For example, " The wicked is 
cast away in his iniquity ; "bid the righteous hath hope in 
his death." The door that swings on this sharp pivot opens 
and shuts the way of life. Sometimes, as here, it turns from 
light to darkness ; and sometimes from darkness to light. 
In this case you are conducted from Barnabas to Ananias ; 
you step from the bright sunshine of a loving Christian life 
to the graveyard damp of a hollow hypocrisy — a spirit of 
darkness caught in the fact of putting on the garment of an 
angel of light. 

The plan was concocted by "Ananias, with Sapphira his 
wife." There is concert in evil. It is not the sudden im- 
pulse of an unguarded moment. It argues an extreme hard- 
ness of heart when two persons, united by the tenderest bond, 
plan a lie together, and engage to support each other in 
carrying it out. 

The persecution which the primitive Church endured was 
an efficient means of purifying it. To a great extent the 
fire did in fact purge the dross away. Tor the most part the 
first disciples might be counted on for truth and sincerity. 
But even that terrible ordeal could not make the society 
immaculate ; it did not wash out every stain ; it did not 
turn earth into heaven. 

Some chaff is found among the wheat even after the 
fiercest fanning. You may not be able to explain how the 
fact has happened, but you observe the fact. It would be 
difficult to explain the motives which induced this pair of 
hypocrites to join the company of the Christians, at a time 
when the profession of that faith endangered liberty and life. 



The Beacon : Ananias. 



"5 



Kor is the easy-going explanation open to us, that as good 
things were going among the Christians, they might hope to 
get a share; for, as Ananias was a landed proprietor, he 
could not possibly expect to be a receiver. A giver, if he 
joined this society, he must obviously be. 

There is a deeper, sadder cause. It is too true that the 
religious emotions may be much stirred, while the moral 
sense is not correspondingly quickened and purified. There 
may be much devotion, of a certain kind, where honesty, or 
truth, or purity is feebly rooted and liable to die out. The 
gospel of Christ when understood and accepted tends to 
purify the heart and life. This can be demonstrated both 
from its nature and its results. Hope produces holiness : 
" Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure" (1 John iii. 3). But these two which 
God hath joined are often put asunder by men. 

It is often said, and in certain quarters said with much 
passion, that a man who does not make a profession of religion 
is more trustworthy than a man who does. Some persons 
seem to take a delight in affirming that pious people are 
greatly given to cheating and lying. It is obvious that this 
opinion is grounded on the common fallacy of magnifying a 

i few glaring examples into a general law. If those who count 
that all piety is hypocrisy, a mask worn to gain an end, 
would take time to calculate, they would soon discover that 
their theory cannot possibly be true. It destroys itself. 
The assumption is that rogues put on the garb of piety in 
order to obtain credit, and having thus obtained credit, cheat 

! the credulous. Why do dishonest men adopt this method ? 
Obviously because it suits their purpose. Because they 

i seem to be religious men, people trust them. But if it were 

c the common rule that religious men were dishonest men, 
they would cease to obtain credit ; it would not pay a villain 



n6 



The Church in the House. 



to assume a religious profession ; and when it ceased to pay, 
he would cease to assume it. The averment that bad men 
make a profession of piety in order to cheat, goes to prove 
that pious men, as a rule, are honest. 

But while to this extent the defence of Christians against 
that calumny is clear and sure, I don't think it is right or 
safe to deny the imputation altogether. There is some truth 
in it. Indeed, it is the truth which any calumny contains 
that makes it formidable. Mere calumny, altogether false, 
has no force, and can do no harm. It soon dies. But false- 
hood which has some truth interfused lasts longer, and 
spreads further. 

I do not refer to those conscious scoundrels who, having 
no sense of religion, deliberately make a profession for the 
purpose of gain Besides this class I own that you meet 
here and there a man who is not consciously to himself a 
hypocrite — a man who has been moved in a period of re- 
ligious fervour, and who, notwithstanding, has not acquired 
a proper sense of the binding character of the ten command- 
ments. In short there is such a thing as a piety, after a sort 
sincere, dissociated from truth, and justice, and purity. 

The Antinomian is not a mere dried specimen, found fossil 
in the tomes of polemical theology ; he is a living species of 
our own era. He is sound in his creed, and evangelical in 
his opinions, and perhaps zealous in propagating the faith ; 
and yet he has a defective sense of the distinction between 
right and wrong, fair and foul, in the intercourse of life. 

Nor should a true believer faint even before such a 
loathsome spectacle. Such is the condition of the soil, and 
such the activity of the " adversary," that tares do here and 
there spring up and choke the good seed. But let true 
disciples be of good cheer. The seed is the Word ; and a 
Divine sower has come forth into the world to sow it. It 



A fter Judgment, Revival. 1 1 7 



will prevail over the tares and thistles even here in the 
field ; and at the end of the world a separation, complete 
and eternal, will be made between the wheat gathered into 
the garner and everything that defileth. When the door is 
shut, all within will be found true and pure. 



XXIIL 

AFTER JUDGMENT, REVIVAL. 

"And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these 
things. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders 
wrought among the people ; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's 
porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them : but the people 
magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes 
both of men and women.)"— Acts v. 11-14. 

THE case of Ananias served several important ends. For 
one thing, it bears a very emphatic testimony to truth. 
Such a testimony was needed, and therefore it is given in 
the record. Those who have come into personal contact 
with the heathen, the civilised as well as the savage, bear 
witness that the grand difficulty in dealing with them lies 
in their want of truth. Among the native populations of 
India you do not find a sense of truth that can be depended 
on. A merchant who had resided a number of years in the 
Western Presidency narrated to me the following case : — 

One native sued another at law for the recovery of a loan. 
He adduced witnesses, who proved clearly and minutely that 
he had lent the accused a certain specific sum at a certain 
place and time. When the defender was called to plead, he 
I distinctly owned that he had received the money according 
f to the testimony of the witnesses, but called other witnesses, 
who proved with all clearness and fulness that on a certain 



1 1 8 The Church in the House. 

day and at a certain place lie had repaid it. He was 
absolved. An Englishman who knew the defender, and 
knew that he had never received the loan, asked him why 
he had acknowledged a debt which was not due. He 
replied that the debt was legally proved against him "by false 
witnesses ; that he had not witnesses to refute their evi- 
dence ; but that as his adversary had, at small cost, proved 
the debt, he had been able as cheaply to prove repayment. 
He had no alternative but to meet one falsehood with 
another. Such is heathenism, even where it is cultivated 
and refined. 

The judgment that fell on Ananias and Sapphira is of the 
nature of a miracle. A true miracle is never wrought unless 
when there is a worthy object to be attained. Now, false- 
hood in the very heart of the world was a great barrier in the 
way of the infant Church. The new society founded by 
Christ was beginning its career in a world that lacked truth. 
It was difficult to build even that Divine edifice without a 
foundation, without something in humanity of which it might 
take hold. Unless the Church find or generate truth, it will 
not overcome the world ; it will sink as in a mire. At the 
outset a pen of iron and the point of a diamond must be 
employed to print truth, as on the rock for ever. A blow 
must be dealt against falsehood, which will vibrate down to 
the end of time, giving all men to know that the lie which 
is cherished in the bosom of the world must be cast out from 
the body of Christ. 

From the beginning till now the Christian Church is 
exposed to two distinct dangers ; it is liable to be assailed 
from without, and to be corrupted from within. It is in 
danger from open enemies, and from false friends. This 
spiritual body, like the natural, may be injured either by the 
stroke of an adversary or by poison mingled with its food. 



After Judgment, Revival. 119 

In the infancy of the Church the hand of the Lord was 
directly stretched out for its preservation on either side. 
While the Church was a child the everlasting arms were 
thrown around it ; on one side it was protected from the 
violence of the persecutor, and on the other from the 
corrupting effect of falsehood within its own bosom. In the 
fourth chapter we learn that the Lord interfered to keep the 
persecutor off; in the fifth, that he interfered to cast the 
leaven of hypocrisy out. Enemies shall not be permitted to 
crush the Church by power ; falsehood shall not be permitted 
to poison the springs of her life. 

In the beginning, when the system of the world was first 
set agoing, there were miracles ; but miracles do not interpose 
to carry the system on. At the beginning of Christ's kingdom 
in the world miracles came to its aid ; but miracles are not 
needed, and are not employed in its ordinary administration. 

That the system of the world is, proves there was once 
a miracle ; that the Church of Christ is, proves that it was 
established by a miracle. The death of Ananias and 
Sapphira is the arm of the Lord revealed to deliver the body 
of the Church in her youth from a consumption which, if 
not so checked, might have brought her down to an early 
grave, although no breath of persecution had ever blown 
upon her. We learn here that the work of God to cast out 
of the body the poison that would secretly undermine the 
life is as stupendous as his work to shield the Church from 
the power of her foes. Danger of dissolution through 
internal corruption is as great as the danger of destruction 
by external violence. 

The question put to Ananias by Peter is suggestive : 
"Why hath Satan filled thine heart?" Satan is, and acts. 
Evil in man is not originally a spontaneous growth. It 
required, so to speak, two factors — the soil and the seed. 



120 



The Church in the Hottse. 



The seed was injected by an adversary. An enemy hath 
done this. The revelation that sin in our race had a definite 
beginning and an alien author leaves room for the blessed 
hope which the gospel brings to light, — the hope of ultimate 
and final deliverance. 

But though the suggestion of evil is attributed to Satan, 
the question is addressed to Ananias. This intimates, that 
he could have closed the door of his heart against it, if he 
would. Give not place to the devil ; and wanting " place " 
given by yourself, he has no foothold to strike any blow. 
The real strength of the defence of Paris against the Germans 
lay in occupying beforehand all the positions in the neigh- 
bourhood from which the city could have been assailed. 
The Parisians took care, as far as they could, not to give 
'place to their adversary. 

Satan filled the heart of Ananias ; Barnabas was filled 
with the Holy Ghost. The human spirit is capacious, and 
it cannot remain void. It must be filled with good or evil. 
These two — the Spirit of holiness and the Spirit of evil — 
cannot dwell together in one room. They cast each other 
out, like night and day. 

As a result of these events, great fear came upon the 
Church itself, and also upon the surrounding spectators. 

Great fear came upon the Church. It is a healthful 
symptom, a needful discipline. "Lord, is it I?" "Let him 
that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." 

It is of the wicked one that these dark deeds occur, but it 
is of the Lord that their occurrence is recorded in the Word. 
It was Christ himself that said, "Eemember Lot's wife." 
Many centuries after the fact, he directed that it should be 
kept in memory. These dark monuments have obtained a 
place in the Word that liveth and abide th for ever, that their 
warning may be available in all nations and all times. 



A fter Judgment, Revival. 1 2 1 



Fear came also on as many as heard. As a natural 
consequence we learn that " of the rest durst no man join 
himself to them." This, however, does not intimate that 
subsequently there were few accessions. The opposite is 
immediately declared. Great multitudes were then and 
there added to the Lord, and enrolled in the membership of 
the Church. The meaning is, that those who were not of 
them dared not pretend to be of them. The stroke of 
judgment scared the hypocrites : but believers came flowing 
in like a stream. Believers were " the more " added ; that 
is, the judgment upon the false professors hastened, instead 
of hindering, conversions. This terror of the Lord effectually 
persuaded men to take refuge in his mercy. 

Believers were added to the Lord. It was not enough 
that their names were found in the communicants' roll. 
Your life, ye living, is hid with Christ in God. The living 
branch is in the vine, and also interwined with its sister 
branches. All its life depends on being in the vine; 
although some portion of its fairness and fruitfulness may 
depend on its being interlaced in bonds of love with other 
branches. 

And multitudes were added. This is the common experi- 
ence still. A great number come at one time with a rush ; 
and a period of comparative barrenness supervenes. Again 
there is a revival, and again a period of coldness. From the 
beginning, tides have flowed and ebbed in the Church as in 
the ocean. This phenomenon, springing in the inspired 
record, observed from time to time throughout the course of 
ecclesiastical history, and emerging in bold features within 
the range of our own memory, is fitted to touch our hearts 
and impart a solemn lesson. Has the tide risen in my time, 
and carried in many on its wave, and am I left without and 
behind ? Even when the heaving of the spiritual tide in my 



122 The Chttrch in the House, 

neighbourhood has ceased, the door is not shut. We are as 
welcome when we come one by one as when we press in 
with the crowd. Now is the accepted time : whosoever will, 
let him come. 

" Both men and women." The inspirer of the Word is 
the Spirit of wisdom. There was a reason for specifying 
that the converts were not all of one sex. This feature of 
the narrative throws out right and left a needful warning. 
The converts were not exclusively men, for the gospel owns 
and elevates and enfranchises woman. It is in the Word 
and Law of her Maker that her claim of equality is secured. 
It is a bright incidental glory of the gospel that it reinstates 
woman in her original place, as the adequate and equal 
companion of man — the necessary complement of his being. 
Women have cause to love the Lord. They owe to his 
Divine and discriminating wisdom not only their home in 
heaven when they are redeemed, but also their rightful place 
in the society of time. 

Nor women exclusively : for when the Word comes in 
power it makes quick work with that lordly pride in which 
men wrap themselves, when they select philosophy or 
politics as their sphere, and leave religion to women. Under 
this outpouring of the Spirit these high things were brought 
low, and these crooked things made straight. When the 
apostles in their first fervour preached Jesus and the 
resurrection, strong men bent their heads and wept, and 
cried, What must we do to be saved ? Good for these strong 
men that they yielded, ere it was too late, to the melting 
power of grace ; for what would their strength avail in the 
day of the Lord ? 



How the Seed grew. 



123 



XXIY. 

HOW THE SEED GKEW. 

" Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect 
of the Sadducees,) and were rilled with indignation," etc.— Acts v. 17-26. 

ALTHOUGH the people in their zeal endeavoured to 
place their sick under the shadow of Peter as he 
passed, it is not said that any were healed specifically by 
that method. There is, however, no ground, on the other 
side, to deny the possibility of such a case. It was the 
design of the Lord at that time to magnify the apostles in 
the eyes of the multitude, in order that popular favour might 
shield them from the hatred of the chiefs, and so preserve 
their lives for subsequent service. There was thus a specific 
use for such miracles as would tend to increase the people's 
veneration for the preachers of the Word. 

It is not expressly said (v. 17) that the high priest, 
whether Caiaphas or Annas, was himself a Sadducee, It 
is more probable that he was a Pharisee, and that he obtained 
the support of his rivals in persecuting the Christians. 
Though the two sects were at daggers-drawn between them- 
selves, they were reconciled at once when an opportunity 
occurred of joining hands to crucify Christ in his members. 

The central point of the apostles' testimony was the 
resurrection of Jesus. This stirred especially the enmity of 
the Sadducees. They maintained the dismal creed that there 
is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. They were more 
offended by witnesses of a fact, than by preachers of a 
doctrine. Though they had no creed themselves, they bore 
a willing hand in hunting down those who believed. 

The spirit of the Sadducees is not contemptible for influence 
and numbers in our day. The broad Church, in its fully 



124 



The Church in the House. 



developed form, is a dangerous enemy to the true Church. 
The Church may be destroyed by the admission of un- 
believers, as well as by the ejection of believers. 

One of the phases of modern indifference is the favour 
with which persons of influence regard the proposal to endow 
indiscriminately all sects and creeds. It is the firmness of 
the people opposing the tendencies of politicians that has 
hitherto prevented the Papacy from being acknowledged and 
maintained by the State. It is not that political parties 
concur in believing that Eomanism is true ; they only observe 
that it is powerful, and they wish its power to be exerted 
on their side. 

The angel of the Lord opened the prison doors. These 
preternatural interpositions were not intended to remove the 
witnesses beyond the reach of the persecutors ; for in each 
case the liberated apostles remained on the spot and repeated 
their testimony. The design was to bring a moral power to 
bear on both the judges and the populace. It was an appeal 
to the magistrates to restrain them from persecuting ; and, 
in case it should fail on that side, an appeal from unjust 
power to the sympathies of the common people. In this 
way it pleased their Divine protector to execute at that time 
his own command, — " Touch not mine anointed ; and do my 
prophets no harm." 

The angel opened the prison, and carried to the prisoners 
the Master's message, that they should continue to preach 
the gospel ; but the angel himself does not preach. You 
never find an angel calling on sinners to repent. There is 
not a gospel according to the angel. Angels are like little 
children, employed to carry letters to the Master's friends. 
They may try to peep into the contents on the way, but they 
cannot comprehend the meaning. 

The name applied by the angel to designate the gospel of 



How the Seed grew. 



125 



Christ is worthy of notice. He calls it " this life." Here, 
doubtless, the messenger's memory was faithful, for it is 
likely that the Lord who sent him would himself give it that 
designation. It was he who said, " I am the resurrection 
and the life." In sight of the angels a new life had sprung 
up in the world, different from any they had witnessed 
hitherto. 

The message further bears that the liberated apostles should 
continue to speak the " vjords of this life." These are the 
seeds from which the new life springs ; the sowers must go 
forth and sow them. It is as if in our sight a new and 
better kind of vegetation should burst from the ground, more 
beautiful and more fruitful than any that had hitherto been 
known. We should, in such a case, examine curiously, and 
gather carefully, and sow again those precious seeds. " The 
seed is the Word," and the Word is the seed — the seed of 
this new life that grows on the old soil. Go spread it on 
the field, and keep nothing back ; speak " all the words of 
this life." 

It is of use to remember here, that it was beside a grave 
that Jesus uttered the words, "I am the resurrection and 
the life." It is light in darkness. 

And, finally, in this brief but pregnant message which the 
angel bore, the apostles are instructed to speak all the words 
of this life " to the people" There is no respect of persons 
here ; no pandering to rank and power. The true enfranchise- 
ment of the common people lies in the gospel of Christ. 
Would that the struggling, bleeding nations could see it ! 
If the Son make them free, they shall be free indeed. 

When the civil and ecclesiastical authorities (ver. 24) 
ascertained the facts, " they doubted of them whereunto this 
would grow." Some glimmer of light has penetrated at last. 
They are not so confident now in the efficacy of their own 



126 



The Church in the House. 



prescription, " Speak no more in this name." They begin to 
discover that this Word, which they attempted by a short 
process to crush, is a thing with life in it : they suspect that 
it will grow. They were right. It had begun to grow. 
They feared its growth, for they felt it was their enemy. So 
Pharaoh had a presentiment that Israel would grow — grow 
too great to be kept in bondage — and commanded that the 
male children should be drowned. But infant Moses was 
drawn out of the water, and grew — grew to be the deliverer 
of Israel, the scourge of Egypt. 

Herod had a presentiment that the Babe born in Bethlehem 
would " grow " till he should reach the kingdom, and dealt 
a cruel blow against the young child's life. But the child 
grew, and Herod must stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ. " Be wise now therefore, 0 ye kings : be instructed, 
ye judges of the earth. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 
ye perish.'" 

Casting our eye backward in the light of Scripture on 
those successive efforts by the powers of this world to crush 
that living Word, which is the only seed of a new life for 
men, we may well " rejoice with trembling " over its wonder- 
ful preservation from age to age. He who sits King upon 
the floods had said, " Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it 
and therefore it was preserved. 

Suppose a world full of human inhabitants with a short 
store of prepared food, but with no seed which might pro- 
duce a continued supply — a whole world without a single 
grain of living seed. Suppose now that a messenger from 
another orb should come with a single grain of wheat. Can 
you conceive the care with which the gift would be cherished ? 
Can you conceive the horror that would seize upon the 
multitudes if they thought the precious grain was in danger 
of being crushed ? 



Hoiv the Seed grew. 



127 



The seed of the Word was cherished and preserved, not 
by men, for they knew not that it was their life, but by the 
loving and wise providence of God. The seed, sown in the 
ground when Jesus died, grew to dimensions that the Jewish 
rulers recked not of. In our day it has grown great ; after 
our day it will grow greater. The kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. 

When the magistrates received a report from their officers 
that the prisoners had escaped, and left the doors of the 
prison standing open (ver. 23), they were amazed. They 
knew not what to make of it. But while they hesitated, 
another messenger arrived (ver. 25), announcing, not that 
the prisoners had fled, which would have been a natural and 
easily comprehended course, but that they were " standing 
in the Temple and teaching the people." 

Here is a still greater difficulty. This is not a case of 
ordinary escape from prison. These men do not save them- 
selves when safety is within their reach. This step in the 
experience of the servants is the duplicate of one that 
occurred to the Master. When the band came to arrest 
him (J ohn xviii. 6), he cast them to the earth by his look. 
He showed them that he might escape, and yet surrendered 
himself to their will. It was another appeal to their hearts. 
If they yield, it is well ; but if they resist, it will harden 
them the more. So with the apostles here ; the Lord sent 
his angel and set his servants free. He showed the perse- 
cutors that they had no power over these men, " except it 
were given them from above." But having done this, the 
Master left the witnesses in their enemies' hands. His will 
was, that his servants should neither flee nor fight ; that 
they should preach the cross, and bear it ; that they should 
overcome as he had overcome, by enduring. 

Stolid, like the band that seized Jesus in the garden, they 



128 



The Church in the House. 



went to the Temple and arrested the apostles ; but aware by 
this time of the favour with which the populace regarded 
them, they led the prisoners gently into the presence of the 
court. But not only did the officers offer no violence to the 
apostles in arresting them, the apostles offered no resistance 
to the arrest. Such was the temper and attitude of the 
crowd, that the officers feared a rescue if they should apply 
force. Peter and John were sharp enough to observe the 
situation. They had nothing more to do than make some 
show of resistance, and a disturbance would have taken 
place, in which they could escape. But this was not in their 
way. They understood better the instructions of their Lord. 
Had these two men, who bore the first brunt of the perse- 
cution, adopted the method of saving themselves by favour 
of a riotous multitude, the Christian Church might never 
have obtained a footing in the world. If they had taken the 
sword, they would have perished by the sword. They 
witnessed and suffered : so, the blood of the martyrs became 
the seed of the Church. 



" And when they had brought them, they set them before the council : and the 
high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye 
should not teach in this name ? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with 
your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter 
and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than 
men." — Acts v. 27-29. 



GAIN the apostles are placed at the bar and examined. 



XJL The accusation this time is simply that they had not 
complied with the former judgment. The magistrates had 



AGAIN AT THE BAR. 



XXV. 





Again at the Bar. 



129 



enjoined them not to speak any more in that Name, and now 
they charge the panels with contempt of court. Peter and 
John, however, although they had disobeyed the order of the 
Sanhedrim, had not broken their own parole, for they had 
given no parole in the case ; on the contrary, they had de- 
clared, in the face of the tribunal, that they would continue 
to preach in the name of Jesus. 

The judges on this occasion are thinking, not of how they 
may discover the truth regarding the accused, but how they 
may provide for their own safety. " Ye have filled Jeru- 
salem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's 
blood upon us." It is not a question of truth and justice ; 
these men do not seem capable of rising to such thoughts. 
They believed that the apostles were working up the multi- 
tude to demand vengeance upon the rulers for the murder of 
Jesus. It was a vulgar fear for their own skin that inspired 
these contemptible intriguers who sat on the bench of justice 
that day in Jerusalem. 

" Ye mean to bring this man's blood upon us !" And they 
trembled for their own base lives in presence of the excited 
populace. It is a sad scene for us who can look at leisure on 
it, and look beyond it. How near the kingdom they seem 
to be ! — " this man's blood upon us ;" and yet they think of 
that blood only as vengeance ; they have gotten no glimpse 
of its atoning power. " Who is blind, but my servant V* 
They who sit in Moses' seat reject the Prophet whom Moses 
promised. 

It is interesting to observe how shy the rulers are of 
introducing the name of Jesus. They say " this name " and 
" this man," but they do not venture to pronounce his name. 
This stone which the builders rejected is dreadful to the 
rejecters. They seem already to labour under some dim con- 
ception that upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him 

I 



130 The Church in the House. 

to powder. On the other hand, in proportion as the rulers 3 
avoid that name, the apostles cleave to it. To them it is a 
name above every name. In all these troubles they con- 
tinually presented it as a shield over their heads. That 
name of the Lord is a strong tower; and these righteous 
men, in every danger, run into it. 

Another concise and sublime word, spoken by Peter and ! 
assented to by his companions — "We ought to obey God 
rather than men." We who have all our days been familiar 
with it, do not perceive its grandeur. Are not all these who 
speak Galileans? Whence, then, hath this man this wis- 
dom? He speaks as he is moved by the Holy Ghost. This 
courage is not earth-born. "Every good and every per- 
fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father 
of lights." The apostles had prayed specifically for 
courage to speak God's Word : they had asked, and now 
they received. 

How much the world owes to the word that Peter uttered 
before the Sanhedrim that day ! It is the foundation of all 
the true liberty that exists in the world. On this rock — 
the word that the Holy Spirit spake by Peter's lips — has the 
liberty of the Church been built, and the gates of Hell shall 
not prevail against it. 

Nothing that rested on the world could resist and over- 
come the world. Here is a word let down from heaven, a 
word that liveth and abideth for ever. By leaning on this, j 
human liberty has been able to maintain a footing on the 
world during the dark centuries that are past; and that 
liberty wherewith the Son has made his people free, is wax- 
ing apace, as the dawn advances into day. Freedom of con- 
science — the subjection of a human spirit to God, and its 
emancipation therefore from all inferior control — is deposited 
here in the ground as a living seed. Thence it has sprung 



Again at the Bar. 



and spread ; thence it will spring and spread until all super- 
stition and tyranny shall be swept away. 

The power — the paramount value of this heaven-sent 
principle — has never and nowhere been more clearly illus- 
trated than in the history of our own country. It is the 
action of this principle in conflict with persecuting rulers 
that has made our land illustrious among the nations. 
Especially it is this aspect of Divine truth that has imparted 
to Scotland its peculiar historical character. Woe to the 
fatherland if a degenerate race should arise who should be 
ashamed of the conflicts in which our liberty was won ! 
When it becomes fashionable to laud the chivalry of Claver- 
house, and cast ridicule or bestow pity on the rudeness or 
fanaticism of his victims, the golden age of our country is 
gone. The suffering unto death for liberty of conscience 
ennobled the men of that day, and secured liberty for their 
descendants. We are like sons who have inherited the 
wealth that their fathers won : a humble, thankful spirit 
becomes us. We should maintain and improve our heritage. 

Critics have noticed the structure of Peter's brief defence 
as one of the finest specimens of pleading on record. It is 
a proof that the promise, " It shall be given you in that hour 
what ye shall speak," was amply fulfilled. It is clear and 
cogent ; it is very short, but it is long enough. The speaker 
says all that is needful, and stops when he is done. In this 
short space he defends himself, confounds his adversaries, 
and commends Christ to the bystanders. The address 
assumes the form of a syllogism, which would not have been 
so remarkable in the lips of Paul, but which we are surprised 
; to find in the unpremeditated defence of the simple and im- 
petuous fisherman. After announcing the general principle, 
j that wherever God claims obedience man's claim must stand 
i in abeyance, he proceeds to show that this case comes under 



132 



The Church in the House. 



the rule. " The God of our fathers ;" he takes care to trace 
all up to the God of Israel, whom the Sanhedrim acknow- 
ledged. Peter and John did not stand before the priests as 
aliens, guilty of subverting the Jewish faith or the Jewish 
commonwealth. He claims to be with themselves an 
Israelite, and interested as much as they in the inheritance 
of Israel. " The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom 
ye slew." The point of the arrow is at their breast again. 
He will not spare them. In one sense he is in their power ; 
but in another they are in his. They tremble in their seats 
under this home- thrust. "Ye slew;" for they compelled 
Pilate to pronounce sentence of death. Nor does the 
preacher spare them the aggravation — "and hanged on a 
tree." They know the curse and shame associated with the 
cross. "Whom ye slew, him hath God exalted." He 
pillories the priests as the enemies of God, the crucifiers of 
the Messiah. 

But this bold, unsparing, personal piercing is not the 
dictate of anger or revenge. All that dross has been purged 
out of the witnesses by the baptism at Pentecost. The 
servants are about their Master's business. They are feeling 
for an opening into the consciences of their judges, that they 
may introduce the gospel. They intimate that God hath 
exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour ; a King to rule, 
and a Eedeemer to forgive. They offer, through this 
Eedeemer, repentance to Israel and remission of sins. The 
preachers have an eye both to the magistrates and the 
bystanders. They cherish no enmity against the perse- 
cutors. Their rule already is, all things to all men, in order 
that they may save some. The judges who oppressed them, 
and the populace who for the time favoured them, are all 
alike in the eyes of these witnesses. The business of the 
apostles is to win souls, and this precious gain is alike 



Exalted to Give. 



133 



welcome from all quarters. To the judges on the bench ; 
to the young advocates, such as Saul of Tarsus, who might 
be hanging about the precincts of the court ; to the spec- 
tators ; to the officers ; to all alike the suffering witness 
proclaimed repentance and remission of sins in the name of 
Jesus. And who shall tell whether Saul, through Peter's 
word, received an arrow in his heart, which would not out 
by all his intemperate zeal to crucify Christ in his members, 
and which at last brought the furious persecutor down to 
the dust before the gates of Damascus ? The witnesses were 
careful to sow beside all waters, not knowing which of their 
words might fail, and which might bear fruit unto life 
eternal. 

XXVI. 
EXALTED TO GIVE. 

" The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for 
to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."— Acts v. 30, 31. 

THE murderer is haunted by the ghost of his victim. 
The haunting is real, although it may exist only in 
the mind of the criminal. It is of God that the shadow 
should follow and torment him. It is a part of the sublime 
machinery of Providence constructed for the punishment, 
and so for the prevention, of crime. It is one of the lines 
of defence thrown around human life by the Creator's 
watchful care. 

All history teems with examples to show that the innocent 
blood which tyrants have shed rises up to avenge. Witness 
Herod : his courtiers imagined they would interest their 
master when they told him of the mighty miracles performed 



134 



The Church in the House. 



by Jesus. But the news only filled him with horror. The 
gory head of the Baptist came back ; and though the 
murderer shut his eyes, he was compelled to see. He 
could only reply to his officious informants : " It is John 
the Baptist, whom I beheaded ! he is risen from the dead 3" 
Many a time and oft the Baptist "rose" in the haunted 
imagination of that unjust judge. When the victim rises, 
the murderer undergoes a righteous retribution. He gave no 
mercy ; and in his blind terror he expects none. 

These high priests who had compassed the death of Christ 
were in Peter's address compelled to undergo this inevitable 
sentence, " Whom ye slew, God has exalted." Their victim 
has risen, and the murderers tremble. Woe to them if he 
whom they crucified is exalted ! They showed him no mercy, 
and they expect none at his hands. 

But come, ye crucifiers of Christ, come to him and be 
forgiven. Take the truth which fell once from your own 
lying lips, " This man receiveth sinners." That sneer 
becomes now the hope of your souls. It is because he 
receiveth sinners that now, when he is exalted, he will not 
put forth his power for vengeance. " Him hath God exalted 
to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, 
and remission of sins." Strange and attractive word ! Exalted 
to give, ! When these Jewish rulers, who had sworn his life 
away before the tribunal of the Eoman governor, heard first 
of his resurrection, they remonstrated with the witnesses — 
" Ye intend to bring this man's blood upon us." The resur- 
rection of Jesus had no other meaning to them than vengeance 
coming on their own heads. They reasoned, If he whom we 
slew is exalted, woe unto us ! But it is to these very men 
that the apostles preach pardon. They proclaim that J esus 
is exalted for the purpose of showing mercy to his murderers. 
He is exalted to give ; and he gives even to them — he gives 



Exalted to Give. 



135 



to all, and upbraideth not. Now that he is exalted, and his 
enemies are in his power, instead of taking vengeance, he 
gives remission of sins. 

Fix yonr minds on this precious word. It belongs to us 
as well as to them. It is over all, like the vital air. In this 
end of the world, it is as cold waters to thirsty souls to hear 
that Christ is exalted in order that he might more largely 
"give." In the seventy-second Psalm this remarkable 
promise concerning the Messiah is found, — " He shall come 
down like rain upon the mown grass : as showers that water 
the earth " (verse 6). It is true, as elsewhere written, that 
God " giveth us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons." But 
a greater gift is here. It is not he shall bestow the rain, but 
he shall be the rain. Not he shall send down the rain, but 
he shall come down as the rain. This refreshing is by the 
presence of the Lord. 

The water is exalted into the heavens in order that it may 
give rain upon the earth : it is exalted to give. It is drawn 
up, as by a resurrection ; and arises pure into the heavens, 
that it may be in a capacity to send refreshing to the thirsty 
ground. In the same wa} r , he who comes as rain on the 
mown grass was exalted that he might give — that he might 
give himself, as the living water to his own. 

This exalted Giver bestows every kind of good. He is 
head over all things to his Church. Every good and perfect 
gift is from above. But the fundamental benefit — the boon 
without which all others would be of no avail — is the twin gift 
promised in the text, " repentance and forgiveness of sins." 

These two go together to constitute one whole redemption. 
These two God hath joined, as he has joined right and left 
sides of a body to make one organized life. As well might 
the contending mothers at Solomon's judgment-seat be com- 
forted by getting each a half of the divided child, as any 



136 



The Church in the House. 



sinner expect to be either safe or happy with one of these 
gifts if he wanted the other. These two are one ; to separate 
is to destroy them. 

Forgiveness of sin is an act of the supreme God, and 
repentance is an act of sinful man ; and yet both are the gift 
of the risen Eedeemer. It is not like two portions of an 
extended straight line ; it rather resembles two halves of one 
great revolving ring. As it goes rapidly round, all in one 
solid piece, it seems sometimes as if this half were impelling 
that; and sometimes as if that half were impelling this. 
From one point of view, repentance in the man seems to 
draw forgiveness from God ; from another point of view, 
forgiveness freely given by God seems to work repentance 
in the man. In some sense both these views are true ; but 
the one is not a living truth apart from the other. It is the 
circle that revolves, not either half of it. One thing we 
know, that the whole circle and all its movements have been 
bestowed as a free gift by him who is exalted a Prince and 
a Saviour. It is true that repentance draws pardon from 
God; and it is also true that pardon from God bestowed 
free makes the sinner's heart melt in penitence. 

It is true that Christ says, " If any man open, I will come 
in ;" but it is also true that no one would open unless he 
were moved and won by the plaintive voice of the Divine 
Endurer, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." It is 
the opening from within that lets the Saviour enter ; but it 
is the pressure of the long-suffering Saviour without, that 
causes the fastenings of the closed heart to give way at 
length. " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 
the violent take it by force." We are accustomed to think 
of this as a description of faith's agonising pressure at the 
gate of heaven's mercy ; and the thought is right. But the 
phrase, in the light of Scripture, has another and greater 



Exalted to Give. 



137 



meaning. Christ himself is the strong man who by force 
casts out the usurper, and spoils his goods and occupies his 
room. The kingdom of heaven is within us. And if it 
come not first into us, we shall never enter into it. Now 
this kingdom suffereth violence ; the mighty one takes it by 
force. The force he applies is this same "forgiveness of 
sins." It is forgiving love, streaming from Christ exalted, 
and beating on the closed gate of a human heart, that drives 
the fastenings in at length, and floods it to its brim. 

We cannot determine the precise point at which the pro- 
cess begins. We cannot be certain that it begins in all cases 
at the same point. In the circle which consists of forgiveness 
and repentance, I do not know the very point which the 
Spirit of the Lord touches in order to communicate motion. 
All that I know is that he gives it motion ; and that when 
one point moves, all points move. 

And this wheel is like Ezekiel's, " so high that it is dread- 
ful/' The upper part of its rim is in the heavens, while its 
lower edge rolls upon the earth. Forgiveness of sin is an 
act done by God ; it is an official act of the Judge on the 
great white throne. Repentance is a work and a rending and 
a melting here on the earth. It goes on within a human 
heart. The lower part of this circle is in the chambers of a 
sinner's heart here ; and yet every movement of a hair's - 
breadth in that deep place is accompanied by a corresponding 
movement on high. 

" There is joy in heaven, in the presence of the angels, 
over one sinner that repenteth." Eepentance in the deep 
places of your soul is so connected with the fountain of grace 
in God, that the slightest movement here is felt there. 

I dare not say that in any case there is repentance in man 
before there is forgiveness from God ; neither can I dare to 
say that in any case there is forgiveness with God before 



138 



The Church in the House. 



there is repentance in the man. But I know that wherever 
may be the spot where movement begins, the whole system 
moves together. In proportion as my soul draws by repent- 
ing, God gives by pardoning ; and in proportion as God gives 
by pardoning, my soul receives through repenting. When 
the receiving channel is clogged, the outflowing channel is 
left dry ; when the outflowing channel is filled by a rushing 
flood, the clods that choked the receiving channel are washed 
away, and there is a great refreshing. 

There is one obvious practical lesson that should be inter- 
posed here — it is repentance that lies to our hand. It is 
with it that we have to do. Our business is to repent. 

These two were joined in Peter's own experience. When 
Peter had denied his Lord, the Lord looked on Peter ; that 
look conveyed pardon, and the repenting disciple went out 
and wept bitterly. 



XXVII. 
GAMALIEL. 

" When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay 
them," etc. — Acts v. 33-42. 

THE word on Peter's lips was " sharper than a two-edged 
sword." The audience were cut to the heart. Such 
convictions cannot pass away without some practical result. 
They will either melt the heart on which they fall, or make 
it harder. Those who have trembled like Eelix under the 
preached word will either submit to the gospel, or resist it 
with increased enmity. 

In the case of judges and rulers, if there is not true peni- 
tence, the enmity reveals itself in active persecution ; but in 



Gamaliel. 139 



private life the convictions that are resisted are for the most 
part kept secret. When conviction ripens into conversion 
and peace, the fact becomes known in the Christian brother- 
hood : but those piercings which are successfully resisted 
seldom become known beyond the breast of the convict. 
When he overcomes his convictions, he keeps the conflict to 
himself ; when his convictions overcome him, his friends will 
hear of his surrender. I thiuk there is many a conflict 
between Christ and the world which is never blazed abroad 
in history. When the world wins, and shuts the door in the 
face of J esus, the strong man armed not only keeps his goods 
in peace, but keeps his victory a secret. When the lion has 
caught his prey, he devours it in silence. 

At first the prevailing opinion in the court was that 
measures should be taken forthwith to secure the death of 
these two troublesome preachers. The Jewish rulers thought 
that they should carry out the policy which they had already 
begun, and treat the scholars as they had already treated the 
Master. At this juncture they were turned from their cruel 
purpose by the politic persuasion of one of their own number, 
" named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation 
among all the people." On his suggestion the accused were 
removed from the bar, that the court might deliberate in 
private on their sentence. In the private conference, 
Gamaliel succeeded in persuading them that it would be 
wiser in all the circumstances to desist, and leave the case 
to Providence. 

In ancient times the opinion prevailed that Gamaliel 
interfered from secret sympathy with the Christians. There 
is an ecclesiastical tradition that he became a disciple. It 
was thought by many that he was already in secret a Chris- 
tian when he exerted his influence to save the lives of Peter 
and John. 



140 



The Chttrch in the House. 



The prevailing opinion in modern times is different. 
Later critics have thought that it agrees better with all the 
circumstances to suppose that Gamaliel was really a Phari- 
saic Jew, that he had no sympathy with the disciples of 
Jesus, and that he continued to the end an unbeliever. 

He was indeed a calmer and fairer man than any of his 
fellows. Besides, being a leading doctor of his sect, he had 
a personal and party interest in protecting the apostles at 
this crisis ; for the real root of the charge against them was 
their doctrine of the resurrection. The apostles were suffer- 
ing under Sadducean influence for the very doctrine which the 
Pharisees maintained as their distinguishing characteristic. 
The Sadducees were the movers at this stage of the persecu- 
tion, and they moved in it because the resurrection of the 
body, as taught by Peter and John in connection with Jesus 
went to demolish the corner-stone of their distinctive system. 

As the Sadducees gave their influence against the apostles 
because they preached through Jesus the resurrection from 
the dead, it was natural that the Pharisees should draw back 
when they discovered that by joining in the persecution they 
were in effect strengthening the hands of their rivals. 
Gamaliel, accustomed to lead his party, seems to have dis- 
covered as the case advanced that the Pharisees had glided 
unawares into a false position. He found that in swelling 
the triumph of the Sadducees in their crusade against the 
witnesses of the resurrection, they were mining the ground 
under their own feet. Accordingly, by a cautious speech 
and a temporising motion, he succeeded in extricating his 
party from the scrape into which they had inadvertently 
stumbled. 

In all that lay between the Pharisees and the Christians, 
Gamaliel was a Pharisee and an ti- Christian ; but in as far 
as the Sadducees were compassing the death of Peter and 



Gamaliel. 



141 



John for asserting the resurrection of the dead, he felt that 
his proper place was on the side of the apostles, and against 
the rival sect. At a subsequent stage of the history, Paul 
employed the conflict between the two parties on this very 
point, to rend asunder the cordon which his united enemies 
had drawn around him ; and through the opening made his 
escape (chap, xxiii. 6). 

The Lord over all is wont to cleave a path through hosts 
of foes, as through the sea, when he desires to set his 
imprisoned servants free for further usefulness. If there had 
been no divisions in Israel, — if the nation at that time had 
not been arrayed in two hostile camps against each other, 
the witnesses might have been crushed at the outset of 
their career. In this way God in providence divides, that 
he may conquer the strong, and so deliver the weak out 
of their hands. 

A remarkable parallel is found in the division of Israel 
into two rival kingdoms after the death of Solomon, and the 
consequent preservation of the Pentateuch from wilful 
adulteration. The mutual jealousy between Samaria and 
Jerusalem rendered mutilation or addition impossible. In 
the same way the Scriptures were preserved from interpola- 
tion in the earlier Christian ages — before the invention of 
printing — by the mutual jealousies between the Eoman 
Church and the various sectaries that successively arose and 
asserted their liberty. Between Pharisees and Sadducees 
there was a rent, and the apostles went out free : between 
Ephraim and Judah there was a rent, and the Pentateuch 
came through entire. 

The proposal of Gamaliel, with the reasons which sup- 
ported it, have been much canvassed by modern critics ; but 
I suppose the view generally taken now is that it does not 
manifest great depth of wisdom in the court. The philo- 



I 4 2 



The Church in the House. 



sophy of the speech is flimsy, and its religion more than 
doubtful. It is probable that the Sanhedrim were by this 
time frightened at their own shadows, — in bodily fear lest 
the people should rise in insurrection, otherwise they would 
not have yielded so readily to the arguments which the great 
doctor advanced. Probably Gamaliel knew very well that 
his reasoning was weak ; but he perceived also that it was 
sufficient to afford an excuse, which the court wanted, for 
dismissing the panels from the bar. His reasoning is 
substantially though not formally a dilemma. He says in 
effect : The cause is either of God or of men : if it is of 
God, ye cannot overthrow it, and therefore in that case you 
should let it alone ; if it is of men, it will crumble to pieces, 
and in that case also you should let it alone. 

To this notable piece of wisdom they all agreed. I 
suspect they desired to reach this conclusion with a view to 
their own safety, otherwise they would not have reached it 
on such grounds. Persecutors are neither consistent nor 
dignified. The prisoners, though unconvicted, were beaten 
in presence of the court, and dismissed with a command to 
preach no more in the name of Jesus. The court might 
have understood by this time that they might as well 
command the tide not to rise on the beach as command these 
men to hold their peace. 

The disciples " departed from the presence of the council 
rejoicing:" and what was the ground of their gladness? 
That they were set at liberty ? /No ; but that they were 
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. What a word ! 
And what a thought ! It was new in the world. The world 
was incapable of comprehending the idea which inspired 
these martyrs. This joy of theirs was as new and strange as 
if a second sun had appeared in the sky. This is a joy which 
their Eedeemer gives — a joy that no man taketh from them. 



The Deacons. 



143 



Again they grandly disobeyed the impotent orders of the 
Sanhedrim. Every day, in public and in private, they 
continued to teach and preach Jesus Christ. There is a 
great lesson in this last word. It is not enough to say that 
they preached. The power lies not in the act, but in the 
object. They pressed Christ as a Divine Eedeemer to the 
hearts of weary men. This is the true apostolical succession 
— to know nothing as a Cure for men's sin but Jesus Christ 
and him crucified ; and no sin which his blood cannot wash 
away. None but Christ for any ; and Christ sufficient 
for all. 



XXVIII. 
THE DEACONS. 

"And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose 
a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows 
I were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multi- 
( tude of the disciples unto them," etc.— Acts vi. 1-6. 

AS an introduction to the narrative of the discontent that 
sprang up, it is intimated that " the number of the 
1 disciples was multiplied." "We gather here that the bulk 
of the society had something to do with the troubles that 

I arose. In a large community certain disorders are apt to 
i occur, from which a smaller body may be comparatively free, 
j It was necessary to institute new offices to meet new 
1 demands. 

i But besides the increased numbers, we must also take into 

I I account the liberal provision for the poor that had been 
, ; made through the generosity of a fresh young faith. It is 
| 1 remarkable that both the internal disorders — the hypocrisy 

recorded in the fifth chapter, and the murmurings recorded 



144 



The Church in the House. 



in the sixth, sprang directly from the open-handed charity- 
exercised towards the poor. In that rich soil, several rank 
weeds suddenly sprang up, to test and exercise the wis- 
dom and faithfulness of the infant Church. The falsehood 
of Ananias, and the discontent of the Hellenists, grew in 
different compartments of the same field. One root of bitter- 
ness grew in the givers, and another in the receivers. Both 
are recorded, that Christians in subsequent ages might be 
warned on either side. 

From the beginning hitherto, the Church has been exposed 
to manifold dangers at the point where she comes into 
necessary contact with the world. How many sorrows and 
how many sins have sprung up with gifts — with money ! 
Contributions are necessary: without them, even the faith 
of disciples would often be crippled in its action for want of 
instruments. But the contributions, especially in large 
bodies and in an artificial state of society, afford a cover 
in which the adversary conceals himself when he seeks to 
devour. 

Both givers and receivers need to be watchful. No i 
Church on earth can be free altogether from danger here, t 
Our prayer should be, not that we should be taken out of the f 
world, but that we should be kept from the evil. Great e 
liberality is a beautiful fruit of faith; yet in this sweet a 
fruit a worm may gnaw. 

Hitherto the apostles had personally superintended the ii 
distribution of the gifts. It was not possible that they 
should take charge of every detail. The work must have; 
been to a large extent delegated. It was natural that Jews 
of Palestine should in the first instance be employed. These II 
would be best acquainted with their own countrymen ; and % 
so it might happen that the native poor were at first better 
provided for than the poor Jews who had been born in k 



The Deacons. 145 

Greek countries and understood only the Greek tongue. 
How far the grievance was real, and how far sentimental, 
we do not know ; we know only the fact that the Hellenists 
complained of undue partiality in favour of the Palestinians. 
Murmurings are dangerous to the peace and prosperity of 
the Christian society. As soon as the apostles heard of the 
complaint, they took effective measures to satisfy, and so 
remove it. They surveyed the case, and promptly formed 
their resolution. At a glance they perceived that if the 
I same methods should be continued, they must personally 
( attend more minutely to the details of the distribution. 
[ But this would distract their attention, and occupy their 
1 time with secondary affairs, to the manifest detriment of 
1 their chief work, the ministry of the Word. 
I A new order of officials must be appointed to superintend 
I this business. The apostles, in the first instance, made 
, up their own mind as to the kind of office that should 
( be instituted, and the qualifications which the officials 
should possess; then they submitted their proposal with 
( reasons to "the brethren." Thereupon "the whole mul- 
1 titude" accepted the proposal, and at once proceeded to 
I s choose fit and proper persons for this specific work. Having 
. j elected the seven deacons they presented them to the 
i \ apostles. The apostles on their part accepted the choice of 
the people, and ordained the deacons by prayer and the 
e j imposition of hands. 

L In making the proposal regarding the institution of the 
, eS deacons, the apostles state briefly the grounds of their 
7S % decision. These grounds are permanently true and precious. 
L The foundation so laid will bear more than the particular 
jjjj; weight then and there imposed. If the apostles declined to 
L administer charitable gifts to poor disciples, lest it should 
■0 interfere with their spiritual ministry, many other things, if 

K 



146 



The Church in the House. 



they had lived in our days, they would have declined for the 
same reason. It becomes all Christian ministers to walk 
humbly in the apostles' footsteps, rather than to set up an 
exclusive claim, on some transcendental ground, to be 
accounted their successors. 

It is eminently worthy of regard, that although the 
specific work to which the deacons were in the first instance 
called was the distribution of money and other material 
gifts, a necessary qualification for office is, that they be " full 
of the Holy Ghost." Grace in large measure is announced 
to be a necessary requisite in one who shall handle 
" the outward things of the house of God." It is on this 
border belt, where the Church and the world meet, that 
corruption is apt to spring ; and it is especially important 
that those who are called to duty in that sphere should be 
eminently spiritual men. 

In distinguishing the specific sphere of the deacon, the 
apostles incidentally define their own. This definition is 
of great value. The duties of their office are " prayer, and 
the ministry of the word." Like the rest of the "acts" 
recorded in this book, and in strong contrast with the flimsy 
and fantastic ideas of the sub- apostolic age, the definition 
exhibits both the clearest logic and the broadest common 
sense. The work consists of two parts ; and these two 
are arranged in their natural order. By prayer they get 
from God, and through the ministry of the Word they give 
to men. Like Paul they are "vessels;" the vessels must 
first be filled, and then they bear about and spread the 
blessed Name that fills them. We find no priesthood and 
no ritualism here. These two constitute the apostolic 
ministry, as understood and explained by the apostles. 
They knew their own mind better than monks of the 
Middle Ages. It is in the Scriptures that you breathe the 



The Deacons. 



147 



free fresh air of heaven ; when you descend into the arena 
of the fathers, real mountains and mist-clouds are so 
intermingled that you cannot distinguish with certainty 
between them. 

Prayer and preaching, alternate or simultaneous, are the 
right and left side of a living ministry. The preaching work 
may be laboriously and conscientiously performed without 
comfort and without success if the other side be from any 
cause paralysed. I watched once with interest the opera- 
tions of a brick-maker in a field of clay. There was great 
agility in his movements. He wrought by piece, and the 
more he turned out the higher was his pay. His body 
moved like a machine. His task for the time was simply 
to raise a quantity of clay from a lower to a higher level, 
by means of a spade. He threw up one spadeful, and then 
he dipped his tool in a pail of water that stood by. After 
every spadeful of clay there was a dip in the water. The 
operation of dipping the spade occupied almost, if not alto- 
gether, as much time as the raising of the clay. My first 
thought was, if he should dispense with these apparently 
useless baptisms, he might perform almost double the amount 
of work. My second thought was wiser; on reflection I 
saw that if he had attempted to continue the work without 
' the alternate washings, the clay would have stuck to the 
' tool, and his progress would have been altogether arrested. 
1 Eight well did the skilful workman know that to plunge 
* I his instrument in water every time it was used, furthered 
3 and did not hinder his work. Indeed, it was this that made 
1 his work possible. 

c I said to myself, Go thou and do likewise. The ministry 
1 of the Word, as the world goes, is like the effort of the work- 
man to lift the clay • prayer is the baptism which makes pro- 
• 3 gress quick — makes progress possible. 



I 



148 



The Church in the House. 



XXIX. 



TROUBLES BEARING BLESSED FRUITS. 



"And the word of God increased: and the number of the disciples multiplied 
in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to 
the faith. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and 
miracles among the people," etc. — Acts vi. 7-15. 



IHESE wise and prompt measures were immediately 



JL followed by blessed results. The murmuring was 
silenced. The irritating leaven of discontent was cast out 
of the Church. This was done not by a high-handed 
authority, exerted to silence the murmurers, but by acknow- 
ledging the existence of the grievance, and instantly devis- 
ing the means of redressing it. Justice was administered 
at once ; there was no vexatious delay. The boon was 
bestowed gracefully, and left no sting. There was no taunt. 
The redress was complete as well as prompt ; for there is 
reason to believe that all, or nearly all, the deacons appointed 
belonged to the section that complained. All the seven 
have Greek names. This does not necessarily imply that 
they were all Hellenists, for many Palestinian Jews bore 
Greek names. Andrew and Philip, in the college of the 
twelve, bear names that are purely Greek, and yet they 
were natives of Palestine. These two, although really 
Hebrews, may have had some family connection with Greeks. 
Besides their names, there is the interesting circumstance, 
that when some Greek strangers at Jerusalem (John xii.) 
desired to obtain an interview with Jesus, it was to these 
two disciples that they applied for an introduction. It is 
probable that most of the elected deacons were Hellenists ; 
for it was in order to satisfy that section of the Christians 
that the appointment was made. There is great wisdom in 




Troubles bearing blessed Fruit. 149 



this straightforward and frank mode of dealing. It takes all 
the bitterness away, and sweetens the breath of the society. 
Best of all, it removes the hindrance, and promotes the 
spread of the Word. Divisions impede the progress of the 
kingdom : but divisions wisely, generously, promptly healed, 
not only restore matters to their former condition, but carry 
the common cause further forward. When a broken bone 
is healed, the limb is stronger than it was before. Thus it 
often happens in Christian communities, that where faith 
and love are in exercise, incidental difficulties become the 
occasion of edification and progress, according to the promise 
that God will make all things work together for good to his 
own. The troubles, in regard to the distribution of charity, 
that threatened the peace of the Church, became the occasion 
of displaying truth and love and fairness in the character of 
the leaders, and so a new impulse was communicated to the 
common work. " The word of God increased, and the 
number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly." 

Of the seven men, Stephen comes first to the front, and 
stands out the chief. After him Philip is distinguished in 
the apostolic history. These two men, of one spirit, were 
led by different paths, and employed in different kinds of 
service. Stephen suffered early, and Philip preached long. 
The Lord had need of both as his witnesses. Stephen by 
his faithfulness unto death, and Philip by his faithfulness 
in life, served the Lord in their generation ; and now they 
rejoice together. 

Without explanation and without comment the narrative 
proceeds to intimate that these men, chosen and ordained 
for the specific duty of distributing the Church's charity, 
proceeded forthwith to preach, and to preach with power and 
success, the gospel of the kingdom. Stephen was full of 
the Holy Ghost and of faith; we need not therefore be 



The Church in the House. 



surprised that he could not limit himself to the serving of 
tables. The very qualities which recommended him for that 
office, carried him beyond it. He burst through the borders 
of his own special department. He volunteered apostle's 
work in addition to the work of a deacon which had been 
prescribed to him. "No one interposed to restrict his efforts 
within the narrower sphere. I take the facts as I find them. 
I love them as they are. There is great freedom and 
elasticity along with order in the organisation of the Church 
as it appears in the New Testament. A free development 
belongs to the nature of the gospel. Wherever the love of 
Christ is kindled within the heart, it will burn its own way 
out. It will keep the higher law of the Lord ; but it bursts 
through all human official regulations. In a quickened time 
the lower offices instinctively rise to the higher work : in a 
dead time the reverse process may be observed — the higher 
offices, and those who hold them, gravitate down to the 
sphere of the lower, and beyond it. At such seasons those 
who claim the apostolate practically desert prayer and the 
ministry of the Word, and strive for mastery in the various 
ambitions of the world. In our day the stream has often 
manifested a tendency to overflow its banks. Those who 
hold only private station in the Church have, through strong 
spiritual instincts, glided ere they were well aware into the 
heart of the ministerial work — into prayer and the ministry 
of the Word. Irregularities may be expected to appear at 
such a time. Let these be watched and corrected with all 
the wisdom and faithfulness available to the Church : but 
beware of mere suppression. I would rather undergo much 
toil and trouble in looking after the embankments and 
guiding the course of the stream, than be relieved of labour 
by seeing the waters fall like a tropical torrent, and leave 
the land a desert. 



Troubles bearing blessed Fruit. 151 



Stephen's great power provoked a great opposition. There 
is a list of the adversaries, but not of the subjects in debate. 
We know, however, what the contention was. These Jewish 
teachers, even the most devout, held to the dead letter of 
the law, overlaid as it was by the endless superstitions of the 
Talmud. The preaching of Stephen made short work with 
their childish ritualism. It tore up their phylacteries, and 
interrupted their long prayers. It grasped the Pharisee fast 
by his conscience, and threw his stately figure prone on the 
ground beside the repenting publican, announcing, with 
authority and not as the scribes, Except ye repent ye shall 
perish. This preacher did not go about the bush. He told 
them that all their sacrifices and all their washings would 
not serve as a substitute for faith and holiness. All this, 
they thought, was a bold assault on Moses and the law. 

Saul's name has not been pronounced yet ; but here we 
begin to feel the firmness of his hand. Saul was there, 
acting in some formally subordinate but really dominant 
capacity. The business is not conducted as it was at the 
last meeting of the court, when, under the temporising 
initiative of Gamaliel, the persecutors allowed the victims 
to slip through their hands. 

Here from the first the reins seem to be held in an in- 
exorable grasp. The witnesses are ready : they have conned 
their tasks; their precognitions have been taken. The 
prisoner is placed on his defence with a foregone conclusion 
that he shall not escape. 

The martyr has a distinct presentiment that this will be 
his last witness-bearing. The sheen on his countenance 
betokens the triumph in his soul. It has generally been 
considered to be a supernatural glory. I am not disposed 
to dispute this theory ; for it would be in accord with other 
examples, and with the purpose of God to give unbelievers 



152 The Church in the House. 

yet another testimony. But I rather like to think of it as 
a natural brightness — as the direct and non-miraculous effect 
of great inward peace coinciding with great outward trouble. 
All God's children attain in measure to the serenity of 
countenance which corresponds to internal faith and hope ; 
but in some cases this effect is produced to such an extent 
as to excite the admiration of observers. I think it pro- 
bable that it was Stephen's victorious faith, and blessed hope, 
fanned by the fierce persecution into greater force, that 
glistened that day on his face, and almost persuaded some 
of his persecutors. At eventide there shall be light. In 
the near prospect of glory, he was so elevated above the 
world, that the dawn of an eternal day reached him before 
the time, and a halo of that light crowned the victim for 
the sacrifice. 



XXX. 

STEPHEN'S TESTIMONY. 

" Then said the high priest, Are these things so ? And he said, Men, brethren, 
and fathers, hearken," etc. — Acts vii. 

" 1\/T ^ K the P erfect man > and behold the upright." That 
JjJL object is worthy of regard anywhere ; but here it is 
placed in a position peculiarly fitted to display its grandeur. 
Everything about the faith of Christians is interesting ; but 
the trial of their faith especially is found unto praise, and 
honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 
i. 7). The flame may live throughout the day, if the supply 
of oil be constant ; but it is by night that the flame is seen. 
So, though a disciple's faith may survive through a period 



Stephens Testimony. 



153 



of prosperity., as a secret bond between him and his Saviour, 
it is not observed by other men until the night of adversity 
settles down. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the 
upright ;" but choose the time for marking him. The 
beauty of his course is generally best seen towards its close : 
" The end of that man is peace." The sufferings which 
enemies have inflicted become the darkness which reveals 
his light. 

Stephen stands before the Sanhedrim, not to be tried, 
but to be condemned. When he distributed alms to the 
poor widows, I suppose his face was pleasant to look upon 
— as that of a loving, benevolent man ; but when he stands 
before his murderers, in the immediate prospect of martyr- 
dom, it is like the face of an angel. The sun is more 
beautiful at his setting than at his meridian ; and if dark 
clouds cluster on the horizon round him, they serve to receive 
and reflect his light, and so to increase the loveliness of the 
departing moment. 

The specific charge preferred against Stephen is, that he 
spoke blasphemous words against the Temple and the 
Law. The presiding judge, conducting himself in the first 
instance with at least external propriety, intimates to the 
accused that he is put on his trial, and invites him to plead : 
"Then said the high priest, Are these things so?" Not 
wanting in courtesy, the accused begins with a general 
salutation of respect. 

A question of much interest has been raised regarding the 
sources whence Luke, the historian, obtained a report of this 
address. Besides the Church in Jerusalem, where a record 
of all the circumstances may have been kept, the narrator 
had a competent reporter at hand in the person of the 
Apostle Paul. Saul of Tarsus was present at this trial : and 
every word of the martyrs defence was graven on his 



1 54 The Church in the House. 



capacious memory, as with a pen of iron and the point of a 
diamond. After he became a preacher of the faith, which 
at that time he persecuted, he would still recall the same 
facts, though invested with a new meaning. Doubtless the 
beloved physician took the opportunity of the enforced i 
leisure of a long sea voyage to learn authentically from 
Paul's lips all the particulars of this extraordinary history. 

It is in the spirit of a devout believer that Stephen traces 
the course of Hebrew history. He touches tenderly, and 
with devout reverence, all the great events in God's dealing 
with Israel. His speech, in this aspect, must have gone far 
to refute the accusations that were brought against him. 
This is not a reviler of the Temple and the Law. This is 
not a renegade Jew who abjures the authority of Moses. 
It was not by his historical discourse that Stephen offended 
his judges; it was rather by his unsparing application of 
the Word to their consciences. His elegant apologetic essay 
would have pleased his judges, as the story of the ewe lamb 
pleased the guilty king; it was his concluding onslaught, 
"Thou art the man," that enraged the persecutors, and 
sealed the doom of the intrepid witness. 

Whether he had reached the point whence he could most 
effectually launch his premeditated bolt, or whether he was 
interrupted by some commotion in the audience, we cannot ; 
with certainty determine ; but at the 51st verse the discourse 
takes a sudden turn. From an abstract disquisition on the 
Divine plan, as shown in the Old Testament history, he 
changes in a moment to a bold, personal denunciation of his 
judges : " Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and 
ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers j 
did, so do ye." This sudden charge must have produced a 
great excitement in the court. Hitherto, there is good 
reason to believe they had listened with rapt attention. 1 



Stephens Testimony. 



155 



The sketch of their own history, given by the accused, must 
have been grateful to their ears. Perhaps they may have 
begun to think, " This man doeth nothing worthy of death 
or of bonds." He had honoured Abraham and Moses and 
David. He had spoken reverently of God, and acknowledged 
Israel as the chosen people. As far as he had yet gone, they 
would have found it hard to convict him of blasphemy. 
Stephen, I suppose, had a well-defined plan in his mind. 
He desired to win their attention, and soften their hearts. 
When at last he saw the gates open and the watchmen off 
their guard, he made a sudden rush, in the hope of taking 
the city by assault, and leading its defenders captive — 
captive to Christ. 

The preacher's plan was in the first instance successful 
The word in Stephen's lips proved quick and powerful. 
The sword ran into their joints and marrow. The immedi- 
ate object is gained : there is conviction. The judges are 
" cut to the heart." This is one step of progress, but it is not 
the end. For those who seek to win souls, as well as for 
those who try to make a fortune, there is many a slip 
between the cup and the lip. Conviction goes before con- 
version ; but conversion does not always follow conviction. 
When such a home-thrust takes effect on the conscience, a 
great anger is generated. That anger burns like fire, and it 
must have some object to consume. It will either burn 
inward to consume your own sins, or outward to persecute 
the preacher who exposed them. In such a case there 
must be a victim. You will wreak your vengeance either 
on your sins or on your reprovers. Such a word as Stephen 
preached to his judges will be a savour of life or a savour of 
death. It makes the hearer better or worse. 

In this case the anger which the word generated went the 
wrong way; instead of going inward to crucify their own 



156 The Church in the House. 

lusts, it went outward to take the life of the faithful reprover : 
" They gnashed on him with their teeth." 

As the fury of the persecutors increased, so did the 
ecstasy of the martyr. The blast of their wrath against 
him, like the wind against a kite, carried him higher toward 
heaven : " But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up 
steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and 
Jesus." These two sights lie close together. Stephen, I 
suppose, saw them blended into one, and could not separate 
them. If the glory of God should appear without Jesus, the 
spirit would fail before him, and the souls that he has made. 
In the Apocalyptic vision of the blessed state, it is said 
that " the Lamb is the light thereof." 

It is noticed with interest by all the commentators from 
the earliest times, that Jesus was standing on the right hand 
of God when the first martyr obtained a supernatural 
foresight of his exalted Eedeemer. He was not sitting, as 
in peace and ease ; but standing up, as one who felt the pain 
that his member on the earth endured. This attitude of 
the Lord in heaven already foreshadows his own subsequent 
word : " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?" The pre- 
paration for stoning Stephen stirred the heart of his Lord. 
He stood up in anticipation as well as in sympathy. He 
was preparing to receive with suitable welcome the first 
witness who should, after himself, ascend in a fiery chariot. 

Stephen's ecstatic exclamation was the signal for an uproar 
in the court. What had up to this point seemed, externally 
at least, an orderly trial, degenerated now into a fanatical 
disturbance. The peace and triumph of the martyrs has 
always fanned the persecutors into a fiercer flame. The 
murderers have never been able to bear the dying testimony 
of the victims. In an age comparatively recent, they beat 
the drums to drown the last words of the Scottish 



Stephen's Death. 



157 



Covenanters. "Argyle's sleep," on the night before his 
execution, made the blood run cold in his enemies' veins. 

While the rude executioners were doing their work under 
the eye of a zealous young Pharisee, lately appointed the 
chief agent of the inquisitors, Stephen himself is occupied 
too. He is praying. Finding himself in the valley of the 
shadow of death, he addresses Jesus, present to faith, as 
David long ago had done : " I will not fear, for thou art 
with me." 

XXXI. 
STEPHEN'S DEATH. 

" And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." — Acts VTI. 60. 

I THINK the young man Saul was an attentive listener, 
both to the martyr's sermon and the prayer that followed 
it. I think that he obtained the germs of his systematic 
: theology that day. Sometimes in our Divinity halls a young 
: man receives instruction in the great things of the covenant 
as he learns languages and mathematics, without having for 
the time any specific use for his acquisition. The truth is 
: stored in an unrenewed heart, and lies there dormant until 
the quickening Spirit come. The seed of the Word has 
been dropped into frozen furrows; and when the melting 
] comes it is there, ready to spring. Thus the word from 
Stephen's lips dropped into Saul's memory. I like to enter- 
I tain the conception that in Stephen's speech Paul found the 
\ idea of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 

9 Another stage of the martyrdom: "He kneeled down." 

The stones were overcoming — overwhelming him. He is 
: fainting from loss of blood. Stephen will not remain on his 
: feet till he fall. While he hath strength left he will bow 



158 



The Church in the House. 



down to pray ; and he prays aloud for his enemies : " Lord, 
lay not this sin to their charge." A secret sigh might have 
reached the throne as well ; but the loud voice made known, 
both to friends and to foes, the latest exercise of the martyr's 
spirit. The expression of that prayer may be the means of 
winning souls, and therefore it is articulately expressed. 
That prayer may have remained like a barb in the conscience 
of some of his murderers, which would not let them go until 
it led them to the blood of the covenant. 

" When he had said this, he fell asleep." All things are 
yours, when you are Christ's, and death among them. This 
dreaded name is an article in the inventory of a Christian's 
possessions. When death becomes the property of a disciple, 
it is baptized and gets a new name. It has many different 
Christian names. For Paul, it was a departing to be with 
Christ ; for Stephen, it was to fall asleep. When the earthly 
house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands. A relative of my own 
lately gave a new name to this messenger, which I had not 
heard before, and which I rather like. Leaving her own 
home, to pay a visit of some weeks in the neighbouring city, 
she said to a friend, with reference to the possibility of not 
returning, " I am like a passenger, with my ticket in my 
hand, waiting at the station till the train come up." 
According to her secret anticipation the train did come up, 
ere the visit was over, and she was carried gently away. 

Sleep is a very impressive and appropriate Christian 
name for death. If we were not made indifferent by 
familiarity with it, natural sleep would seem a very solemn 
and mysterious experience. We might well be familiar 
with death, for we have a symbol and rehearsal of it every 
night. We might be familiar with the resurrection, for we 
have a symbol and rehearsal of it every morning. If faith 



Stephens Death. 



159 



were lively, we might lie down every night as an infant 
lies down to sleep in a mother's arms : we might be com- 
forted in the morning when we awaked by remembering 
that this same Jesus stands yet at the right hand of the 
throne, girt for mighty work, as our protector, and alert to 
receive all his own, when life is over, into the joy of the Lord. 

It is remarkable, that of all the Christian names of death, 
this one should be employed here. It might seem an 
appropriate epithet, when an aged Christian, on his chair or 
his bed, after a gradual decay of strength, with a gentle 
smile on a wan countenance, speaks this moment of his 
hope in Christ, and the next moment glides away. When 
death in such circumstances is called a sleep, the analogy is 
easily apprehended, and at once accepted as true. But a 
cruel death by stoning, amid the yells and curses of in- 
furiated executioners, stripped like gladiators for their bloody 
work — death in such a tumult called a sleep ! Yes ; and 
there is a design in the choice of the name. God sits King 
on these floods. Jesus stands up and speaks again to the 
sea ; and at his word there is a great calm. At sight of him 
" standing " over the waves, the weary voyager is instantly 
at the land where he desired to be. Sweeter to the martyr 
would be the glory of Immanuel's land when he touched its 
shore, because of the storm through which he had passed. 

The executioners, engaged and paid, and held in readiness, 
to do the work quickly, lest the sentence, lacking the due 
authority, might be recalled, " laid down their clothes at a 
young man's feet, whose name was Saul." Such is the first 
introduction of this man to the readers of the Bible. The 
Apostle of the Gentiles steps upon the stage, the acknow- 
ledged head of a ruffian band, in the very act of shedding 
the first martyr's blood. What hath God wrought ! How un- 
searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! 



1 60 The Church in the Hoitse. 

" When he had said this, he fell asleep ; but Saul was 
consenting unto his death." We should not overlook the 
connection and the contrast, which the division of the 
chapters here rather tends to obscure. These two men met 
for one day, and then went on their several paths ; — the one, 
right on to the joy of the Lord ; the other, to the work of 
wasting the Church. The intimation at the beginning of 
Chapter vm. means that Saul approved of the policy adopted 
in taking Stephen off. It would be an error to impute to 
him any inhuman cruelty. Saul was never a man of low 
tastes and brutal passions. From early years he was a man 
of most acute intellect, earnest opinions, and lofty aims. At 
this time his belief was that Stephen's doctrines were sub- 
versive of the true religion; and that the best way of 
checking a heresy was to put the heretics to death. These 
principles did not die out with the conversion of Saul. They 
survived, and deluged Europe with blood down to a very 
recent period. It is only now, in our own generation, that 
religious toleration has been established. The position of 
Saul at the death of Stephen was due, not to natural cruelty, 
but to a perverted judgment. He thought he did God 
service by slaying the disciples of Christ. His own descrip- 
tion is clear and true : " I verily thought I ought to do many 
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth; which 
thing I also did." He held the opinion that it was just and 
right to take Stephen off, as a subverter of the law. 

I have often tried to conceive the scene at the next 
meeting of these two men, when Saul also became a martyr, 
and joined the general assembly and church of the first- 
born. When they met in the presence of the Lord, there 
would be no upbraiding on the one side, and no shame on 
the other. Saul's guilt was indeed very great. The young 
Pharisee who conducted the case against Stephen with skill 



Persecution and Increase. 



161 



and vigour, and plunged into another as soon as the dark 
deed was done — that young Pharisee was a chief sinner; 
but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed Mm from 
all sin. Stephen would be so much occupied remembering 
his own guilt, and praising the grace that had blotted it out, 
that he would have no time and no inclination to cast up 
the sins of other men. We have not the means of deter- 
mining whether Stephen or Saul owed most to the Lord. 
By looking on the surface of the sea we cannot tell what 
place is deepest; but we know that all places, alike the 
deepest and the shallowest, are filled, and all present one 
level surface to the sky. In like manner, as far as we can 
perceive, all the forgiven are alike. It is only He who bore 
their sins who can distinguish the aggravations of every case. 
Certain it is that the first martyr and the man who kept the 
clothes of the executioners at his death are now at peace. 
They are one in Christ. 



XXXII. 

THE PEESECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS THE 
INCREASE OF THE CHURCH. 

" And Saul was consenting nnto his death. And at that time there was a grea 
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem ; and they were all 
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the 
apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great 
lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering 
into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the 
word."— Acts vni. 1-4. 

ON that day a great persecution sprang up. The trans- 
lators have taken the definite term in a general sense 
■ — "at that time" — which it may sometimes bear; but 

L 



l62 



The Church in the House. 



there seems no necessity here for avoiding the more specific 
meaning. It is natural that when the flood of rage had been 
permitted once to break out, it should flow on and cover all 
the neighbourhood. It broke out like a flame, and instantly- 
seized and licked up all that could be converted into fuel. 
The leaders of such a movement found it their interest that 
the passions of the multitude, once excited, should have no 
time to cool. The tiger had tasted blood, and now the 
creature thirsts more fiercely for another victim. On that 
day a great persecution broke out. 

The favour of the people had gained for the Christians a 
brief breathing-time, and they had occupied it well. In the 
interval several thousands had become obedient to the faith. 
Of these, a large proportion were priests, who might be 
expected to be of special service afterwards to the cause. 
When they had learned that the Scriptures testify of Christ, 
they would be better fitted by their previous training than 
disciples of another class for the work of convincing gain- 
sayers and edifying the Church. 

But the popular favour soon failed the Christians. That 
protection seems to have sprung up as quickly as Jonah's 
gourd, and withered as soon. Already the defenceless heads 
of the witnesses were exposed to the full fury of the per- 
secution. They were scattered abroad, — the assemblies 
broken up, and the individual disciples compelled to flee. 
They betook themselves to the country around Jerusalem, 
and some penetrated northward into Samaria. Thus, although 
their steps were directed by events beyond their control, 
they were exactly fulfilling the Master's commission, — first 
in Jerusalem, next in Judaea, then in Samaria, and thence to 
the uttermost parts of the earth. The six surviving deacons, 
and other prominent members of the Church, sought refuge 
in flight ; but the apostles remained still in Jerusalem. 



Persecution and Increase. 



163 



As for Saul, he pursued his vocation. " He made havoc 
of the Church;" but he was employed as an instrument in 
promoting the Divine plan. The havoc made by Saul 
scattered the Christians ; the scattered Christians were like 
sparks, kindling a great flame wherever they fell : " They 
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the 
word." 

At this point the historian, according to his custom, 
abandons the method of general description, and exhibits, 
by way of example, the details of a particular case. The 
portion of Christian history selected in this section is the 
ministry of Philip the deacon. Two specimens of his 
preaching are given in this chapter ; and I think these two 
have been chosen as a sign for all places and all times. The 
gospel first reaches Samaria, and then the ends of the earth. 
The first example of Philip's ministry is among the nearest 
neighbours of the Jews ; and the next is addressed to an 
Ethiopian, representative of the distant Gentiles. The first 
is a ministry in a city to a multitude ; the next is a ministry 
in a desert to a single man. These two are types of alL 
And in both, the preacher's theme was one : — when he went 
to a city of Samaria, "he preached Christ unto them :" when 
he met the Ethiopian in the desert, he " preached unto him 
Jesus." 

In the gallery of missionary portraits which this book 
displays, although some are larger, none are more distinctly 
traced than that of the evangelist Philip. The sketches 
given of his life and labours are very short, but very clear. 
He comes suddenly upon the stage, marches quickly across 
it, and disappears on the other side when his part is played. 
Very little time is allowed to examine him, and yet we do 
not forget him when he is gone. All his movements are 
remarkable for directness and precision ; there is no am- 



1 64 The Church in the House. 



biguous haze hanging over the horizon of his life. This is 
not the man who at first possesses ten talents ; but this is 
the man who lays out his five with such a will, that they 
soon become ten in his hands. His movements remind you 
of Ezekiel's wheels. Like them, he goes straight forward, 
without turning to the right hand or to the left — whether in 
going forward or in coming back — whether on his way from 
the city to the wilderness, or on his way from the wilderness 
to the city. Like them, too, he moves with the Spirit, and 
by the Spirit: he goes not unbidden, and goes not alone. 
Where the Spirit leads, he follows. 

Philip was driven into Samaria by the violence of the 
persecution at Jerusalem. This is the way by which the 
gospel was propagated in those days. The blood of the 
martyrs was the seed of the Church. In this matter the 
plan of Providence has been to a great extent changed in 
our time. It is not by the persecution of Christians in one 
place that Christianity is carried into another now. In the 
cognate kingdom of nature vegetation is spread, not always 
and everywhere by one and the same agency. A part of the 
work is done by the wind bearing the winged seeds over 
mountains and moors, a part by birds carrying heavier fruits 
for objects of their own, and a part by the progressive out- 
spread of the roots under the ground. There is a similar 
diversity in the methods employed by the Omniscient 
Husbandman to scatter the seed of the Word over the world. 
Missionaries are now for the most part sent out, not driven 
out. This method, though more gentle, is not less effectual. 
It is the spontaneousness of the scattering that constitutes 
its glory. " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy 
power." On the part of the Church, it is eminently a 
reasonable service ; and yet men are drawn into it by the 
loving-kindness of the Lord. 



Persecution and Increase. 



165 



Two methods are in operation among civilised nations for 
filling up their armies : one is a forced conscription from the 
inhabitants, the other a voluntary enlistment. Both methods 
have in practice made good soldiers ; but in its nature the 
voluntary service is the nobler of the two, and in its opera- 
tion the sweeter. In this manner the missionary army of 
the present day is recruited. It is not that the disciples 
of Christ preach to the heathen because they are driven 
from home ; it is that they go from home that they may 
preach to the heathen. 

Nor is there any room for self-complacency on our part, 
when the two periods and the two processes are compared. 
It is not that we adopt the gentler method because our love 
is stronger : I rather think the Lord spares us the sterner 
method because our faith is weaker. If we were persecuted 
as the early Christians were, I fear, instead of imparting our 
religion to our neighbours, we should let go our own. Let 
us appreciate our privileges and thank the Giver. Let us not 
be high-minded, but fear. 

Further : seeing we enjoy abundant peace, we ought to be 
abundant in our mission labour. The early Christians did 
much mission work because they were persecuted ; we ought 
to do more because we are not. Peace has multiplied our 
resources ; if our efforts were proportioned to our resources, 
we might occupy a continent as easily as the hundred and 
twenty from the upper room occupied Samaria and Galilee. 
Our lives and our strength are not consumed by the fires of 
persecution ; we should therefore devote more energy and 
effort to the service of the Lord. 



The Church in the House. 



XXXIII. 

PHILIP PREACHING IN A SAMARITAN CITY. 

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto 
them." — Acts vra. 5. 




HILIP (1.) went down to a city of Samaria ; and (2.) 
preached Christ unto them. 



I. Went down to a city of Samaria. 

1. W ent down ; that is, from Jerusalem. The place physi- 
cally was high ; and so the form of expression for going away 
from Jerusalem naturally came to be, " Going down." Jeru- 
salem was the centre. There were both the thrones and the 
altars of the house of David. Thither the tribes went up to 
worship ; thence the law flowed out, and thence the gospel. 

If there is one grand supereminent and central mountain 
in a country, to it the clouds of heaven come, around it they 
congregate. From that mountain, in turn, the water flows 
in every direction to refresh the land. Such, spiritually, was 
Jerusalem to the world. 

The clouds gathered grand and multitudinous around it 
on the Pentecost that immediately followed the death and 
resurrection of the Lord. Under the influence of the rush- 
ing mighty wind they were precipitated on its summit, and 
flowed in vast volumes back to all the surrounding nations, 
bearing the gospel of grace to people of every tribe and 
tongue. Out of the temple that day flowed waters that at 
first rose to the ankles, and then to the knees, and then to 
the loins, and afterwards became waters to swim in — a great 
flowing river coursing through a desert world ; and wherever 
it flowed changing the desert into a fruitful field. 

Christ's name and work is that central mountain now. 
The Spirit without measure is poured out on him. The 



Philip preachiiig in a Samaritan City. 167 

Jerusalem that now is, is the Church of Christ in the world. 
Around it all heavenly influences congregate ; on it they 
drop down ; and from it then flow forth. Hence missions to 
heathen and Jews. If you ask, Why do Christians engage 
in mission work ? the answer is, They cannot help it. Why 
do the rivers flow down the mountain-sides upon the parched 
plains when once the clouds have discharged their burdens 
on the mountain's summit ? They must flow down, by the 
law of their being. So Christians must flow : love in the 
hearts of the redeemed swells, and would rend them, unless 
they opened to give it vent. From Jerusalem, throughout 
all Judsea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the 
earth, — behold the law of the kingdom, the kingdom estab- 
lished in Christian hearts. 

2. To a city. — In congregated masses of humanity, the evil 
is great when they are evil, the good great when they are 
good. The efforts of the first Christians were directed not 
exclusively, but chiefly, to the great cities. The spiritual 
warfare in this respect follows the analogy of the temporal : 
when the strongholds are won, the surrounding territory is 
more easily occupied. 

Cities seem destined to play a greater part in modern than 
they played in ancient times. As yet no symptom appears 
of any natural law that shall check their increase. The 
corruption of such vast heaps of corruptible matter is enough 
to make the stoutest heart falter. In presence of modern 
cities and their phases of corruption we may well lose heart. 
" This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your 
faith." Lord, increase our faith ; for the sight or the thought 
of London makes our hearts flow down like water. 

3. A city of Samaria. — It was near ; it was needy. Long 
before, the native Jewish inhabitants had been carried away, 
and a colony of heathens planted in their stead. These added 



i68 



The Church in the House. 



the worship of J ehovah to their variegated creed. They were 
a mixed people, with a patchwork religion. In later times 
they had in a great measure conformed externally to Jewish 
modes of worship, but conducted it on their own soil. They 
made a merit of having a common worship with the Jews, 
and eagerly claimed a common descent. 

Samaria is near us to-day : if we are willing to go down 
to it, we need not lack a mission-field. We have not far to 
look down to Samaria ; and she has not far to look up to us. 
If she see us like herself, — if she see us as covetous, as vain, 
as godless, — she will get comfort from us ; and such peace- 
makers are not blessed. (See Ezek. xvi. 54.) If we give the 
profane and careless multitudes any ground for counting that 
we are not better than themselves, we heal their wounds 
slightly, and say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. But 
if we go down to them with reproof on our lips — with reproof 
silent but mighty in our lives, — we shall, indeed, make them 
sorry at first, but out of that godly sorrow the joy of the Lord 
will in due time spring. 

II. He preached Christ unto them. — When Philip had 
reached his proper mission-field, he forthwith began his 
proper mission work. 

1. He preached. — Take it literally; for in that aspect it 
conveys a true, an appropriate lesson. The first and chief 
work of a missionary is to preach. The missionary is a 
herald, sent from the great King to a rebel country, bearing 
his terms of reconciliation. The first business of the herald 
is to proclaim his message. Indeed, the word which we 
translate preach, has been borrowed from that ancient office 
of a herald. Teaching and printing become in certain cir- 
cumstances important auxiliaries ; but they defeat their own 
end, if they occupy the foreground, or usurp the centre. 



Philip preaching in a Samaritan City. 169 

Nor must we shut our eyes to the reproof which the term 
conveys to ourselves. Arguments and disquisitions, however 
just in themselves, and however important in respect of their 
themes, cannot serve as substitutes for preaching. To preach 
is to proclaim — to proclaim, as a herald from the great King, 
the terms on which the rebels will be received into favour. 
This is the real bone and marrow of preaching. 

2. Preached Christ. — To this the teaching of the Bible 
constantly comes round. The true minister preaches, not law, 
not morality, not doctrine — preaches not philosophy, not 
religion, but Christ — not the Scriptures, not the true doctrine, 
but Christ. Proclaims, offers, presses Christ upon men. 

3. Preached Christ unto them. — He brings the matter 
home to themselves, — he brings it home to each heart. To 
preach that Christ came into the world to save sinners, is 
right, but it is not enough. I think I see many near the 
kingdom, and yet falling short of it on this side. We are all 
sinners, and we all need Christ as our Saviour. I think I 
see souls slipping through the opening there and sinking. I 
fear, through that opening many may be lost. "Why so per- 
tinacious in taking a whole armful of other people into your 
confession ? I fear it is sometimes the same instinct that 
said, " What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus ? art thou 
come to torment us ? " What if a soul grasp a great multitude 
of others along with itself, when it comes near Christ, pre- 
cisely in order that it may escape personal contact with him ! 
Let others go for a time ; change your method ; instead of 
speaking about Christ as a Saviour of all, speak to him, that 
he may save you. Lord, I am lost, but I cling to thee. Christ 
to you ; you to Christ. 

Let the sunbeams passing through ordinary glass be spread 
over your naked hand ; you may hold it under these bright 
rays for an hour, and experience no inconvenience. If you 



170 



The Church in the House. 



should shut your eyes, or look another way, you would 
scarcely know that the sunbeams were streaming on your 
hand at all. But now let the rays pass through a convex 
glass, and so be concentrated in one point upon your flesh. 
That one point will shine with great brightness ; and what 
is more, that one bright point will burn. It will go to the 
quick, and compel you to withdraw. 

Precisely the same diversities occur in preaching and 
hearing the gospel. It may be the same truth in both cases, 
as it was the same sunlight ; and yet in the one it may be 
so spread out, in giving it or receiving it, that it exerts no 
power — that it falls on indulged sins, and shines on them, 
without ever making the sinner wince. The glorious gospel, 
the very truth of God, may be so diffused in the preaching 
or the hearing, or both, that it shall fall like sunbeams on a 
field and burn no blade. The same gospel when given on a 
point, or received into the conscience on a point, may run 
into the marrow like a sword, and compel the pierced soul 
to cry out, " What must I do to be saved ?" 



XXXIV. 
FRUIT — JOY. 

" And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, 
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying 
with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them : and many 
taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great 
joy in that city."— Acts viii. 6-8. 

1. rnHEY listened to the messenger. There was great 
I earnestness and great unanimity. They did not 
rise up against the messenger to drive him away ; neither 
did they remain unmoved, leaving him to spend his strength 
in vain. They came to him zealously, and they came all. 



Fruit — Joy. 



It is a great advantage to every one when an awakening 
becomes general. Solitary Christians, with no congenial 
company within their reach, are like solitary trees near the 
sea-coast : the cold winds keep down their growth or kill 
them. But in a thick wood all contribute to shelter each. 
The spiritual life may be best maintained where there is 
much spiritual life all around. 

So quickly and so generally did a harvest spring up to 
Philip's hand in this city, as soon as he appeared on the spot, 
that we are compelled to believe that a sower had previously 
cast precious seed into the field. The Master himself had 
with his own hand sown the field on which his servant was 
now gathering a plentiful harvest. We remember how, at 
the call of the Samaritan woman, great numbers from the 
neighbouring town of Sychar came out and heard the word 
from the Lord himself. This word was not in vain. One 
soweth, and another reapeth. 

2. The people both heard his doctrines and saw his mighty 
works. Unclean spirits were cast out, and the diseased 
were healed. 

Miracles, in the ordinary sense of that term, ceased with 
the first or second generation of Christians. We have now 
the same doctrines preached, and the same results in spiritual 
conversion, but not the supernatural cures. The miracles 
constituted the credentials of the first preachers. But 
perhaps to some minds the cessation of miracles may present 
as great a difficulty as the miracles themselves. If the 
missionaries of Christianity performed miracles once, why 
do they not perform miracles still ? 

If this question is not articulately answered, the ques- 
tioner at least is silenced by one of the clearest and surest 
of all analogies. It is certain and easily demonstrable 
that some great energy was put forth by the Creator at 



172 



The Church in the House. 



the beginning of the present order of nature which is not 
continued now. To set the world agoing at first, powers 
were necessary that are not necessary and are not put 
forth to keep it going after its course has begun. The 
forces of nature now acting are sufficient to account for 
the motion of the heavenly bodies, but not to account for 
how they began to move. The present organic laws are 
sufficient to account for the continuance of the species, but 
not to account for its commencement. According to the 
ordinary laws or sequences of nature, every creature pro- 
duces its kind ; but we know of no law that could produce a 
creature where there was no such creature previously in 
existence. Thus a power must have been put forth to begin 
the present cosmos, which has ceased, and never operates 
now. Why then should it be thought a thing impossible 
that God should exert a power to establish the gospel at 
first, which is not needed and is not exerted to keep it 
going? This is what the Scriptures declare. The declara- 
tion is in most perfect accord with what we know of God's 
method in the material department of his kingdom. The 
constant process of generation is as wise and wonderful as 
the miracle of creation. So, although the miracles that 
introduced Christianity are not now presented to us, it does 
not follow that they were greater works than those that 
occur now in conversion by the ministry of the Spirit. The 
greater and the better work is that which continues to this 
day. The unclean spirits are cast out, the aliens are re- 
conciled, the guilty forgiven, and the corrupt renewed. 
" Greater works than these," said the Lord to his followers 
— " greater works than these shall ye do, because I go to 
my Father." The converting and sanctifying work that his 
disciples, by the ministry of the Spirit, were honoured to do 
after his ascension, were, in his esteem, greater works than 



Fruit — Joy. 



173 



those miracles — such as the feeding of five thousand, and 
stilling the storm — which he had exhibited in the exercise 
of his Divine power over the elements of nature. 

3. There was great joy in that city. — Hear this, ye 
"butterfly flutterers, that flit from flower to flower, satiate 
with each sweet as soon as you alight on it, and hastening 
unhappy to another, trying every flower all day, and at 
night bringing no honey home ; — hear this, all ye who study 
hard to keep religion at arm's-length, lest it should cast a 
gloom over your heart or your home ; — hear this : When an 
earnest missionary — a man who risked his life for Christ's 
name — preached in a city, and when the people came out in 
crowds and hung upon the lips of the strange revivalist, the 
citizens, instead of growing gloomy, became very glad. This 
is a phenomenon worthy of your study. 

But beware lest you mistake its meaning. The instinct 
which prompts the vain and worldly to shut the door and 
keep earnest religion outside, lest it should mar their happi- 
ness, is a true instinct. Every creature after its kind. 
Every creature's instinct is true for its own preservation. 
The apprehension that Christ's entrance into the vain or 
vicious heart would be the death of its joy is a just appre- 
hension. The devils believe this, and tremble at its truth. 
"What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus?" To open 
your whole heart for a whole Christ, — to take into your 
bosom the Christ who was crucified for sin, does indeed 
torment the old man; and the old man, a strong man 
armed, keeps his goods in peace as long as he can. The old 
man will not be spared at Christ's coming ; he will be cruci- 
fied. When he is put off a new nature is put on, and the 
new nature has new joys. There was great joy in that city 
when Christ was preached to the citizens. This, however, 
is the ultimate result, not the first effect of such preaching. 



174 



The Church in the House. 



" This child is set for the fall and the rising again of many 
in Israel." These Samaritans, when we get a glimpse of 
them, are bearing home their sheaves with rejoicing : but 
the seed-time was moist with their tears. The pleasures of 
sin have been rent off, and the patient cried at the rending ; 
but the joy of the Lord has now come. 

In the world of a man's own heart and life he lived with- 
out God ; lived and laughed because God was not there ; 
trembled sometimes in the midst of his mirth with an 
instinctive dread lest God should burst into his world and 
quench its mirth in wrath. But at length the Stranger who 
long knocked outside has come in. At his presence the 
former joys fled ; but with his presence come new joys — the 
peace of God that passeth all understanding. 

Some people at some times — and I mention this outward 
and visible thing at present mainly for the light which it 
throws as an analogy on another that is secret and unseen — 
are found willing to convert the sweet still rest of night into 
a scene of crowded, noisy, toilsome revelry. They light up 
the darkness into a kind of artificial brilliance, and deck 
themselves into a kind of conventional beauty ; and they 
toil like navvies in a close, crowded, suffocating room. When 
the sun arises on this scene its hollowness is detected, and 
its false brilliancy put to shame. How dull the flicker of 
the lamps is now ! how yellow the flush that glowed on 
the heated cheek ! how tawdry and dusty the light flowing 
robes ! They are all fain to get out of sight. 

But yonder are two youths on the mountain-top, there in 
time to greet the sun's rising. They drink in the golden 
glory that precedes and accompanies his appearing in the 
east ; and then, in his mild morning light, they search among 
the grass for the flowers, that bend their necks to anticipate 
his coming, and open their bosoms to take in his light. 



Sent to the Desert, 



175 



Suppose now that one of those night revellers should get 
a glimpse of these two as he is skulking home, and should 
say, " These are dull fellows, that shut their cold hearts 
against all pleasure." It is sheer ignorance and impudence. 
Those youths take in more joy — more natural human delight 
in an hour of their morning walk, than the souls of that 
whole company have capacity to contain. 

In like manner, in the secret of a soul, they make a great 
mistake who think that to abandon the crackling thorns of 
ungodly mirth is to plunge into spiritual gloom. They who 
through Christ have been reconciled to God, aud walk in 
the light of his countenance, have indeed allowed one kind 
of happiness to be chased away ; but it is like changing the 
flickering of the night lamp for the risen sun, and the breath 
of the dancing hall when the night is far spent for the 
morning breeze on the mountain. 

There was joy in that city. Christ offered to a city or a 
soul, and kept out, seems like a cloud of wrath hanging in 
the heavens over it — a terror ; but Christ freely offered, and 
believingly accepted, by a city or a soul, becomes a joy 
which life could not give, and death cannot destroy. 



XXXV. 

SENT TO THE DESERT. 

p And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the 
south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is 
desert."— Acts vin. 26. 

AFTER the episode regarding Simon the Sorcerer, and 
the mission of Peter and John from the Church at 
Jerusalem to visit the converts in Samaria, the narrative 



176 



The Church in the House. 



of Philip's ministry is resumed. He is sent now, not to a 
populous city, but to a desert ; not to a crowd of Samaritans, 
but to a solitary Ethiopian. A message, which he recognised 
as from the Lord, reached Philip to the effect that he should 
" arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth 
down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert." 

Both "way" and "Gaza" being feminine, it is not certainly 
indicated whether it is the road or the city that is described 
as a desert. It so happened that Gaza was standing at the 
period when Philip preached, but was demolished at the 
period when Luke composed his treatise. Some understand, 
accordingly, that the words " this is desert " are the historian's 
note on the condition of the town when he was writing. 
Others take the words as part of the angel's message, 
intimating that the path lay through a wilderness. Though 
both come to the same in the end, the second seems the 
more natural construction. The road leads through an 
uninhabited country. There were more ways than one from 
J erusalem to Gaza. One led by Hebron southward, and the 
other took a westerly direction. 

" He arose and went : " he was not disobedient to the 
heavenly vision. If, like Jonah, he had looked for excuses, 
he would have found them in abundance. He was well 
employed in a populous district. He had a wide door — a 
multitude of listeners when he preached — a multitude of 
inquirers when he was done. Many believed. The fields 
were white ; and the labourer was getting his bosom filled 
with sheaves. Had he been called from one Samaritan town 
to another as large and as needy, he might have perceived 
the reasonableness of the call. But the demand is that he 
should leave the city and go to a desert. It is a trial of faith 
analogous to Abraham's. It required a simple, unquestion- 
ing trust, while all the appearances were adverse. 



Sent to the Desert. 



177 



Whether he took the path by Hebron or that which lies 
more westward, Philip at length passed out of the inhabited 
regions, and penetrated into the inhospitable tract which 
stretches southward to Egypt and the Eed Sea. Here he 
threads his way over broken stones and shifting sands, 
doing his best to keep the track that former travellers have 
made. 

Afloat on the sand-sea, the evangelist is like one of those 
master-mariners who, at their sovereign's command, set sail 
with sealed orders not to be opened till they reach a certain 
indicated spot of the ocean. Philip as yet did not know 
why he was sent to this place, or what he was expected to 
do there ; but he counted that his orders would open when 
he reached the spot. The orders, accordingly, all open, like 
the prison-doors for Peter, of their own accord, and the whole 
plan is revealed : " Behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of 
great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who 
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem 
for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read 
Esaias the prophet." 

These two men meet in the desert: the one, a sinner 
uneasy seeking a Saviour ; the other, a called and qualified 
minister of Christ. The one is a thirsting soul ; the other is 
a "chosen vessel" charged with the water of life. The one 
offers, the other receives Christ. They part again : Philip 
to pursue his ministry; the Ethiopian rejoicing in the Lord. 
They met and parted in a day, perhaps in an hour. At the 
beginning of that interview the Ethiopian was timidly 
asking, " What must I do to be saved ? " At the close of it 
he resumed his journey, a Christian in the full assurance of 
hope. They approached from different directions, or converg- 
ing lines, until they met on a point like the apex of the 
letter > ; but having met, they soon separated again, like 

M 



1 7 8 



The Church in the House. 



the crossing lines of the letter X, and probably never saw 
each other more in the body. 

The two lines on which they approached rose like rivers 
in far distant hills, and flowed on until they met at a point 
in the desert between Jerusalem and the border of Egypt. 

Trace the course of the Ethiopian treasurer. Late in the 
preceding, or early in the same year, while the mild winter 
of that region kept mornings and evenings cool, a commotion 
might have been observed in the principal street of the 
Abyssinian metropolis at the departure of a caravan for the 
north. It is the grand vizier of the queen, starting on a 
religious pilgrimage. The bystanders do not exactly know 
the reason of the journey, but one has heard a neighbour tell 
that the chief treasurer had been much taken up of late with 
stories, told by travelling Jewish merchants, of a mighty 
prophet who had arisen in Judsea. The treasurer, it was 
rumoured, was going all the way to Jerusalem to worship 
the God of Israel, and seek the Messiah who was at that time 
expected to come. 

We lose sight of the Ethiopian grandee, alike on his toil- 
some journey by the bank of the Nile, and through the 
wilderness ; we never get a glimpse of him among the crowds, 
native and foreign, who congregate in Jerusalem to worship 
at the feast. Where he was and how employed during the 
events which signalised that Passover, we cannot tell ; but 
we know that, after waiting long and inquiring much, he 
called his servants and ordered his waggon, and started on 
his journey homeward, while the longing of his soul that had 
brought him so far remained still unsatisfied. He was 
thirsty ; he came to the place where the springs were opened ; 
and yet he went away still athirst. There has not been such 
a revival meeting since on earth as that one which took 
place in J erusalem while the Ethiopian was there j and yet 



Sent to the Desert. 



179 



he came away sorrowful. On that day of Pentecost the 
Holy Spirit was poured on many, but not on him ; at least 
so he thought and felt. After he has come so far, it is sad 
to see him returning without his errand. Yet it is written 
in the Scriptures, " Seek, and ye shall find." Can the promise 
— can the Promiser be true ? Yes ; and this is a conspicuous 
example of his faithfulness. This Ethiopian, secretly taught 
of the Spirit, did not limit God to times and places. As he 
left Ethiopia and went to Jerusalem seeking, so he left 
Jerusalem and returned to Ethiopia still seeking. He 
departed from the temple ; but he still communed with God. 
When the period of public worship had passed, he persevered 
in private searching the Scriptures. 

Mark the man well: he has not abandoned the search. 
The whole meaning of that sable chief, as he bends in silence 
over the parchment, seems to be, " I will not let thee go, 
except thou bless me." It is true he has not obtained what 
he sought at Jerusalem, so as to be satisfied when he departs 
but he has learned something at Jerusalem which is of use 
to him now. Although his want is not supplied, he knows 
better now what his want is. As the thirsty blindly gropes 
for water, he comes near the place where a fountain has been 
opened. An instinct is astir within him, as true as that 
which guides an infant to its mother's breast. He is feeling 
for the sufferings of Christ. Before he saw Philip, or 
obtained any help, the place of the Scripture which he read 
was this : " He was led as a lamb to the slaughter." All 
things are now ready. This man will be born there. In 
that desert place Ethiopia is stretching out her hands to God, 
and will not be left to stretch them out in vain. 



i8o 



The Church in the House. 



XXXVI. 



A MAN OF ETHIOPIA. 



"And he arose and went : and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great 
authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all 
her treasure, and had come to J erusalem for to worship, was returning, and 
sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet." — Acts viii. 27, 28. 



iAUSE a little here and contemplate that interesting 



JL stranger, while Philip opens to him the word of life. 
He is a man of Ethiopia. In the main, it is the country 
which is now called Abyssinia. It lies on the eastern edge 
of the African continent, north of the equator, and bounded 
on the east by the southern portion of the Ked Sea. It is a 
land of mountains and rivers. Its climate is warm and its 
soil fertile. It is of great extent. In those days it was a 
powerful kingdom ; and if its people were civilised, it might 
become powerful again. Some of the streams which con- 
stitute the Mle rise in Abyssinia. 

The inhabitants are very black. Although we cannot be 
certain of the nationality of the queen's treasurer, yet, in the 
absence of any information to the contrary, we must assume 
that he was a man of Ethiopia by birth as well as by allegi- 
ance. In that carriage Philip sits beside a coloured man, 
and leads him into the kingdom of God. The Word is not, 
Blessed are the fair in skin, but, Blessed are the pure in 
heart. The Ethiopian's colour cannot be changed, but his 
character may. He may become a new creature in Christ. 
If he is born again, he will see the kingdom, and enter it 
too. It does not go by good looks. There is no respect of 
persons with God. A few days in the grave will make white 
and black people all alike ; and the Ethiopian, if he has been 
renewed, will be very beautiful in God's sight when he rises 




A Man of Ethiopia. 



181 



from the grave. Angels will gaze in wonder on his grace- 
fulness, as he enters the gates of the New Jerusalem. 

This inquirer occupied a very high place in his own country. 
He was like Joseph under Pharaoh. Inasmuch as the 
sovereign was a woman, the first lord of her treasury would 
probably enjoy more power than Joseph possessed under an 
intelligent and active king. Irresponsible power is not 
favourable to spiritual humility; but, in this case, grace 
triumphed over all obstacles. Although the man had much 
of this world's treasure, it did not satisfy his soul. He did 
not say, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; 
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." He possessed in 
abundance all that the world could give, and yet he was 
wretched. In some way, to us unknown, he had found out 
his sins, but had not yet discovered the way of pardon. His 
conscience told him of his guilt, but could not reveal a 
Eedeemer. So the great man, to whom everybody paid 
court in the capital, went about bent under a load of grief, 
and inwardly sighing, 0 wretched man that I am ! 

Some one — perhaps a little maid who had been taken 
prisoner in war — observing the sadness of the treasurer, 
intimated that he might obtain a cure at Jerusalem, where 
they worshipped the one living and true God. Having heard 
that there was a place on earth where God makes himself 
known, he could not rest till he found it. Judging from 
the length of his journey, the eagerness of his search, and 
the period of his return, we think it probable that he was 
in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. We have no account 
of how he spent his time in the city ; but it is certain he 
would frequent the temple at the hour of prayer, and listen 
to those men of learning who explained the Scriptures in 
public, and kept alive the hope of a Messiah. It is pos- 
sible he may have followed the crowd as it streamed along 



182 



The Church in the Mouse. 



the Via Dolorosa early in the morning towards Calvary, and 
seen at a distance the elevated cross and the Man of sorrows. 
This sable stranger, we may be assured, did not mock, or 
join the cry, Crucify him. He would rather stand by in 
silent tears. 

As yet, however, the Ethiopian did not know Christ. 
Never man spake like this man ; never man lived, never man 
died, like this man ; but still the stranger did not know that 
here was opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness. He 
was very thirsty, and his lip was near the fountain of living 
water ; yet he continued thirsty still. 

He must have been present at the Pentecost revival, and 
heard in his own tongue the wonderful works of God, spoken 
by Galilean fishermen. From the public assemblies he 
retired to the secret study of the Scriptures, and from the 
Scriptures again to the public meetings for prayer ; but all 
the while he was only a seeker — he had not found peace of 
conscience, pardon of sin, peace with God. 

At last the time arrived when he must leave Jerusalem ; 
and, alas ! he must go empty away. He had not found 
what he came to seek. Having a carriage and servants at 
his disposal, he would doubtless carry water and other 
provisions, so that he would incur no danger of want in 
passing through the desert. But the water that he carried 
in a skin could not satisfy the soul of the Ethiopian prince. 
After he drank of that water he thirsted again. He was 
sitting in his carriage alone one day, with an awning over 
his head to defend it from the sun. A large parchment lay 
outspread on his knee. He was searching there for the 
water of life as eagerly as he would have searched near a 
group of palm-trees for a spring, if he had found himself 
alone and destitute in the desert. Some instinct in his soul, 
stimulated and directed by what he had seen and heard at 



A Man of Ethiopia. 



183 



Jerusalem, told him that near this spot the water of life 
would certainly be found. " He was led as a lamb to the 
slaughter." He pauses there. He cannot go past that spot. 
I think I see a great tear gather in the dark eye of the noble 
African, and dropping on the book. "Led as a lamb to the 
slaughter !" This reminds him of the wonderful man whom 
they had nailed to the cross on Calvary. He muses alter- 
nately on the verse which he has read and the scene which 
he witnessed. His heart is throbbing, and his eyes are 
swimming. "Of whom speaketh the prophet this ? of him- 
self, or of some other man ? " Does the word point to that 
other man who died on the accursed tree ? Those looks and 
tones were more like heaven than earth. When he was 
reviled, he reviled not again. When the thief at his side 
cried, " Lord, remember me," he answered, God-like, " To-day 
shalt thou be with me in paradise." That other man ! Of 
whom speaketh the prophet this ? 

At that moment " the anxious inquirer" lifted up his head, 
and descried a solitary traveller marching on foot at some 
distance over the burning sand; for you can discern an 
object at a distance when the ground is level, and destitute 
of vegetation. When they meet, the inquirer's question is 
ready; it had already been brooding silently in his own 
breast ; and now, when he finds a teacher, the demand comes 
out articulate and intense, Of whom speaketh the prophet 
this ? of himself, or of some other man ? 

Deliverance is near. The Lord is not slack concerning 
his promise. " Seek, and ye shall find." The Ethiopian was 
in downright earnest : when he could not obtain pardon 
and peace in Abyssinia, he travelled to Jerusalem, and when 
he failed there he started on his journey homeward again ; 
but he continued seeking. He never let go ; the line 
between his soul and the Saviour whom he sought was at 



184 



The Church in the House. 



no time permitted to slacken. He had leaned on it, and 
kept it tight. At night, when he fell asleep, he fell asleep 
in the act of drawing, as if he would by violence draw a 
pardon down ; and when he awoke his spirit was still in the 
same attitude : I will not let thee go except thou bless me. 

The Lord in heaven is well pleased with this pertinacity 
and perseverance. He opens his hand wide, and satisfies 
this longing soul. 



XXXVII. 
THE MEETING. 

" Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." 
Acts viii. 29. 

MAEKIAGES, they say, are made in heaven : that is, 
the steps of two, both being God's dear children, are 
so directed by an overruling Providence, that after each has 
passed over many windings, the two paths converge, and the 
two lives meet and melt into one like two rivers, flowing 
thenceforth one broader, deeper, stronger stream. Marriages 
are made in heaven ; and two or three other things besides 
marriages are made there. Meetings that are of shorter 
duration, and partnerships that are less intimate, come under 
the same rule. God, who gives law to the ocean, does not 
neglect a dew-drop. The hairs of your head are all numbered. 
Our meetings and partings are under law to God. It is not 
in man that walketh to direct his steps. 

The meeting of Philip and the Ethiopian prince in the 
desert near Gaza is recorded with great precision in Scrip- 
ture. On that meeting much depended ; from that meeting 
great things sprung. What hath the Lord wrought ! and 
how wonderfully he hath wrought it ! If his purposes in 



The Meeting. 



185 



creation require the meeting of two circling worlds at some 
period in the evolutions of time, he will so arrange that the 
two shall approach and touch each other at the very point 
of space and time which he has designed. The same might 
and the same wisdom have been at work to arrange a meet- 
ing wherever and whenever one earthen vessel charged bears 
Christ, and another earthen vessel empty receives Christ at 
a brother's hand. We must not suppose that this meeting 
between the evangelist and the Ethiopian was arranged by 
the Lord, and that he leaves our meetings to the chapter of 
accidents. This case is recorded as a specimen of the Lord's 
way. This prophecy is not of private interpretation ; not a 
letter, but a type for throwing off millions. It is not that 
the Eedeemer and Euler of the world made these trysts in 
ancient times, and ceased to make them afterwards. He 
ceased to reveal and record them, after he had given charac- 
teristic specimens ; but he has not ceased to make them and 
keep them. 

These meetings have been frequent in our own land of 
late years. Many messengers run to and fro, each bent on 
fulfilling his own commission, each bent on getting a soul 
for his hire. How thickly the royal couriers pass and repass ! 
If our eyes were opened, the whole mountain would seem 
full of chariots of fire and horses of fire. See that ye walk 
circumspectly, not as fools, redeeming the time ; for ye know 
neither the day nor the hour when the messenger sent by 
God to meet you on your path may heave in sight, and offer 
you the friendship of the King. The place whereon you 
now stand may be holy ground to you — the birth-place for 
a better life. On the right hand or the left, in the house of 
prayer, in the public street, in the lonely path, the messenger 
may appear, charged to win a soul to Christ. 

Brother or sister still unconverted, if a message of love is 



i86 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



out from the King to you, it would be sad to miss the 
bearer in the busy throng of life. Would you not grieve if 
he should go by ? Then fear not : those who desire to meet 
him will not miss him. That vacuum in a longing heart 
would draw the messenger and the message to your bosom 
although they were at the utmost end of the earth. Though 
the place was desert and the path but dimly traced, and the 
time not told at all, Philip and the Ethiopian met, with all 
the exactitude of the tides and seasons. 

See on a map — for the actual landscape is too wide to be 
comprehended in one view — the track of two converging 
rivers, from their several sources on separate mountain 
ranges to the point of confluence in the intervening valley. 
There are many windings in their courses. At some parts, 
indeed, they flow right away from each other, and sometimes 
back toward their springs ; but in spite of all these partial 
and temporary divergencies, on the whole the two streams 
come slowly but surely to a common meeting- place. So 
spring far apart two human lives, and so these distant lives 
flow into one. God, who made the mountains and the 
valleys, and bade the rivers run among them, brought these 
lives into being, and brought them into one. He brought 
them together : and that for a purpose of his own. Stand 
in awe of the meetings and partings of life. Eeverence the 
friendships which you form and the farewells which you 
pronounce. When one is a disciple of Christ, and the other 
is still of the world, the Master meant by the meeting that 
grace should find its way from the vessel that has been filled 
into the vessel that still remains empty. Vessel filled, freely 
you have received, freely give. Vessel empty, although all 
good comes from Christ the Head, much good comes through 
Christians the members. The one should strive to be, and 
the other to get, a blessing. 



The Meeting. 



i8 7 



These meetings, long prepared and wisely arranged in 
providence, are sometimes lost through obstinate unbelief. 
What a meeting that was in Herod's judgment-hall at 
Csesarea between Paul and Felix ! How far up the lines of 
preparation for it ran ; and how skilfully they were held in 
the hands of the Omniscient until the missionary of the cross 
and the Eoman ruler met at last ! The Eoman listened, and 
the missionary began : Now, Felix, now is your time ; now 
or never. But he hardened his heart and turned away. He 
cast out the arrow of conviction after it had gone more than 
half way through the searing of his conscience. " Go thy 
way for this time :" this time ! fool ! you will never get 
another. He thought he was only politely putting off the 
Christian; but, in reality, he was rudely rejecting Christ. 
To lose such a meeting may be to lose your soul. 

That Ethiopian, on the contrary, being thirsty, welcomed 
the cold water. He received the kingdom of God as a little 
child ; and the kingdom became all his own. He believed 
to the saving of his soul, and went on his way rejoicing. If 
any place in this world can remain consecrated more than 
another in the memory of the saints, that spot in the desert 
near Gaza is a sacred spot to one of the saved multitude who 
stand round the throne in white clothing, for there he was 
born to the inheritance which he possesses now. 

Philip ran to meet him. Hitherto he had walked, and 
that, perhaps, slowly. So when two objects afloat attract 
each other by hidden magnets, their mutual motion towards 
a meeting is slow at first and scarcely perceptible ; but when 
they have approached near, the movement quickens, and they 
traverse the rest of the space at a rush. 

The evangelist, on approaching the chariot, heard its 
occupant reading. The student, though alone, must have 
been reading aloud. It is a mark of simplicity and earnest- 



i88 



The Church in the House. 



ness. Like Jacob in a similar solitude, this man wrestled 
with the angel of the covenant. The kingdom of heaven 
suffereth violence, and the King loves to feel the violent 
pressing with all his might at the gate. 

This reading aloud also gave Philip a natural and easy 
opportunity of introducing himself : " Understandest thou 
what thou readest ?" A very suggestive question, by the 
way, and very suitable in our own times. To read the 
Scriptures is a duty and a privilege, but it is only a means 
to an end. If the ground do not take in the seed, the seed 
left on the surface is soon carried away. 



XXXVIII. 

THE SEED SOWN AND THE HAEVEST REAPED. 

"And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, 
Understandest thou what thou readest ?" etc. — Acts VIII. 30-39. 

SOMETIMES a sermon is reported and published word 
for word in full. At other times the report gives, in a 
more or less condensed form, the substance of the discourse. 
We possess a report of Philip's discourse delivered that day 
in the desert to a solitary listener, but it is in an abbreviated 
form. It is the briefest report of a sermon that I ever saw ; 
and yet it is the most complete. It is a wonderful example 
of much in little. " He preached unto him Jesus." One 
precious word expresses the doctrine which the evangelist 
taught : that word is " J esus." The matter of the sermon 
lies all in that one blessed name. But even that is not 
enough. The saving doctrine contained in this name was 
pressed on the heart and conscience of the hearer. It was 
not only Jesus ; but Jesus unto him, then and there. 



The Seed sown and the Harvest reaped, 189 

It is perhaps at this latter point that most of our preaching 
fails. In evangelical Churches there is a full declaration of 
the gospel. There is much sound exposition. All that is 
implied in the name Jesus, is exhibited skilfully and faith- 
fully before the multitude. But the ministry often halts for 
want of courage to press Jesus upon the conscience of every 
man. The outspread sun-rays make all the ground bright ; 
but the concentration of the rays on a spot makes that spot 
burn. Under the skilful preaching of Philip, the Ethiopian 
felt that Christ Jesus was then offered and pressed upon him 
the same as if there had not been another man in the world, 
the same as if the Son of God had come for the single 
purpose of redeeming him from sin, and leading him into 
holy rest. 

While preaching depends effectually on the demonstration 
of the Spirit, it depends subordinately and instrumentally on 
the pointed application of the gospel method to the heart of 
the listener as if he were the only listener, and as if the Lord 
from heaven stood before him demanding an immediate 
answer. This home preaching took instant effect. The 
Ethiopian understood the message, and accepted Christ. 
He believed, was baptised, and went on his way rejoicing. 

" He went on his way." He must tread the desert 
although he is now a son of God and an heir of glory. 
He is not instantly carried home. He pursues his journey 
under the hot sun, and upon the hot sand. When Christ 
prayed for his disciples, he said, " I pray not that thou 
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil." The winter is as cold and the 
summer as warm to Christ's disciples as to other men. They 
pass through fire and water ; but the Father brings them to 
a wealthy place at last. 

The Ethiopian began that journey before he had found 



190 The Church in the House. 

and accepted the Saviour ; and now that he is in Christ a 
new creature, he does not stop or turn aside. He will com- 
plete the journey : when he reaches home he will do homage 
to his sovereign, enter his office, examine his books, give 
audience to his subordinates, and generally attend to all the 
duties of his high office in the kingdom. 

Here is a useful lesson for Christians of all ranks and in 
all times. If your business was lawful and honest before, 
you need not desert it when you become a Christian. A 
child at school, a servant in the house, a clerk in the counting- 
room, a labourer in the field, a mechanic in the workshop, a. 
seaman before the mast, a merchant in the exchange, need 
not desert his calling when he enters a new life of faith. 

Some people indeed must abandon their calling when they 
come to Christ. If the business has been sinful and injurious, 
the man will not remain in it an hour after he has become a 
new creature. Those fortune-tellers who haunted the pre- 
cincts of the temple at Ephesus gave up their trade as soon 
as they believed. They came to the apostles to confess their 
wickedness and to burn their books. They gave up their 
trade and their stock-in-trade because, as soon as their minds 
were enlightened, they perceived that they were involved in 
an occupation which offended God and injured men. This 
becomes a test of truth in men, and an instrument of glory 
to God. Many a mischievous business has been abandoned 
and many an unjust gain abjured, when the eyes of an evil- 
doer's understanding have been enlightened and his heart 
made new. 

But this Ethiopian gentleman would probably do more 
good by going home and conducting his business, than if he 
had abandoned his office and followed Philip northward. 
The Lord has need of witnesses everywhere, in schools and 
workshops, in families, in evening parties, in halls of judg- 



The Seed sown and the Harvest reaped. 191 

ment and legislation, in the army, and in ships at sea. 
Everywhere the earth is corrupt and needs salt. Every true 
Christian is a grain of salt; and for the world's good the 
salt must be distributed, so as to be in contact with evil at 
every point. It behoves every disciple to have always his 
savour in him, for he does not know how "soon and how 
often the Lord may have need of him as a witness to 
truth. 

He went on his way rejoicing. Eeader, did any one ever 
whisper in your ear that though religion may be safe to die 
with, it is sad and melancholy to live in ? Meet the enemy 
with the Master's own reproof : " Get thee behind me, Satan, 
for thou savourest not the things which be of God, but the 
things which be of men." It is not a sorrowful thing even 
for this world to know that the next is all your own. It is 
not a sad thing for any part of your pilgrimage over time to 
be assured that a place is prepared for you at the journey's 
end — a place in the mansions of the Father's house, pur- 
chased, prepared by him who loved you. It is not fitted to 
damp your joy in youth to have a hope each time you lie 
down to sleep that if you should not awake in this life you 
would awake in heaven. This Abyssinian prince did not 
wait till his dying day for the beginning of his gladness in 
Christ — he began to rejoice the moment he believed ; and it 
is the nature of that light to shine more and more unto the 
perfect day. 

Observe, as a closing lesson, what power a thirsting soul 
exerts, not over earth, but over heaven. An empty human 
heart, longing for the living water, can command all the 
fulness of the Godhead for its supply. There could not be 
rest in heaven while the eyes of that dignified negro were 
filled with tears and straining upward in the desert of Gaza. 
It is said of Jesus once in his personal ministry that " he 



192 



The Church in the House. 



must needs go through Samaria." What power laid that 
necessity on the Son of God ? Ah ! the power was unseen 
by men, but felt by men's Eedeemer. A poor sinful woman 
at Sychar was thirsty, and he must cast himself in her way. 
So here, Heaven could not be still while the Ethiopian suffers 
from an unquenched soul- thirst on earth. 

The drawing power of that longing soul was great beyond 
all calculation. It not only drew Philip away from his 
successful ministry in the cities ; it drew forgiving love from 
its fountain in the eternal God. 

In certain sandy tracts, both of Africa and America, where 
no rain ever falls, travellers sometimes fall in with a living 
plant. The sand is dry in which it is rooted, but it is not a 
dry root ; it is a succulent herb. Its leaves are thick and 
full of sap. When they are cut, a stream of water flows from 
their veins to refresh the traveller. 

How comes this ? So far from being left in want, that 
lowly herb in the Sahara has all the waters of the Atlantic 
at its disposal. Although chained to the spot, and apparently 
doomed to die of thirst, it can draw a supply at will from 
earth and sea. A multitude of microscopic mouths open on 
the surface of every leaf. These, as they open and shut 
like the lips of a panting animal, suck the air that leans on 
their surface — suck from the air what moisture it contains. 
The air, divested of a portion of its moisture, draws from the 
distant ocean to fill the void. Thus the little lonely plant 
in the heart of the continent, growing in a rainless waste, by 
the mere silent, passive power of emptiness, draws its supply 
from the world's great reservoir without stint. The mighty 
deep is compelled to part with its plenty, in order to supply 
the wants of the solitary, feeble herb. 

Be of good cheer, disciples of the Lord Jesus, ye are of 
more value in his esteem than many succulent plants of the 



Saul. 



193 



African desert. Blessed are they that thirst, for they shall be 
satisfied. Seek, and ye shall find. When I am weak, then 
am I strong. In the emptiness of a soul, feeling its want, 
and longing for supply, resides a power which will draw the 
water of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 



XXXIX. 
SAUL. 

"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of 
the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus 
to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men 
or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem, " etc. — Acts ix. 1-3. 




VEKY one goes his own way; every creature after its 
I kind. 



The Ethiopian Treasurer, having obtained all he desired, 
—having gained more than a whole world in that desert place, 
— " went on his way rejoicing. " Philip, having finished one 
work, instantly betakes himself to another. He does not 
become a hanger-on in the palace of his powerful convert. 
From Ashdod, the first town he reached on his return, all 
the way to Csesarea, his home, he preached the gospel in 
every city. A faithful servant, not hiding but exercising his 
talent, he was not content with the successful accomplish- 
ment of his errand to the desert place, but took advantage 
of his return journey to scatter the seed of the kingdom in 
all the towns of the south. Saul too, on his part, acting 
according to his nature, is as busy as the rest. When last 
we saw him, he was acquiescing eagerly in the martyrdom 
of Stephen (viii. 1) ; and now, after a considerable interval, he 
appears again, still bent on getting new victims. Perhaps, 
when the Christians were either driven away from Jerusalem, 

M 



194 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



or concealed there, he found his occupation gone, and deter- 
mined to find a new hunting-field. 

Damascus was a great city only about one hundred and 
forty miles distant. Many J ews resided permanently there ; 
and probably some of the fugitives from Jerusalem had 
reached it in search of a refuge. It is intimated in a subse- 
quent verse (13) that believing Jews, who had left Jerusalem 
after Stephen's death, informed Ananias of Saul's arrival. 

Damascus is the oldest city known to history still flourish- 
ing. It has a population of 250,000. Travellers describe 
with enthusiasm the marvellous beauty and salubrity of its 
site. A bright rapid river, flowing from the slopes of the 
eastern Lebanon range, divides into several branches in the 
plain. Soon after passing the city these streams are absorbed, 
and never reach an outfall in any sea. 

" And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings." The insti- 
gator and manager of the first martyrdom has not yet changed ; 
he still breathes out threatenings and slaughter against the 
disciples of Jesus, but will not do so much longer now. 
This part of his course is near an end ; this is the last journey 
he will undertake as the waster of the Church. The days of 
his rebellion are numbered ; the hour of his conversion is on 
the wing. He is still the persecutor ; but a little while, and 
he will persecute no more. After this day, all his days, he 
will be persecuted, until, like the rest of the martyrs, he is 
sent up in a fiery chariot to join the company of the crowned 
saints. 

Saul demanded from the high priest a commission em- 
powering him to require the assistance of the synagogue 
authorities in Damascus in prosecuting there his work of 
blood. From his own lips, at a subsequent stage, we learn 
that this demand was successful; he went to Damascus 
"with authority," and not as an adventurer on his own 



Saul. 



195 



account. By connivance of the Eoman governor, the Jewish 
ecclesiastical council were permitted within certain limits to 
rule their own countrymen according to their own laws ; and 
it appears that their jurisdiction extended in some form to 
the persons of Jews residing in foreign cities. 

The commission granted by the high priest bore " that if 
he found any of this way, " he should bring them bound to 
Jerusalem. We have here a new designation of the Christian 
faith. It is called the 1 way, and those who believe it are 
said to be of the way. The expression in the same sense 
occurs in three other places of the Acts : " But divers spake 
evil of the way " (xix. 9) ; " And the same time there arose 
no small stir about the way" (xix. 23) ; " Felix, having more 
perfect knowledge of the way" (xxiv. 22). From a compari- 
son of these passages in their context it may be clearly seen 
that " the way " was a specific designation of the Christian 
system. 

Two questions spring here : "Who gave the Christians that 
name ? and, Why was it given ? I think it is not a nickname 
imposed by enemies, but a significant designation adopted by 
themselves. It may indeed have been either voluntarily 
adopted by themselves, and thereafter employed by enemies 
as a term of reproach ; or, conversely, employed by adver- 
saries as a reproach, and ultimately accepted by themselves. 

In the use of the term there may have been something of 
the nature of a cipher, used for the purposes of concealment. 
It seems not improbable that the early disciples, remem- 
bering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, " I am the 
way, the truth, and the life, " might adopt, as their dis- 
tinguishing title, the first constituent of that blessed trinity. 
The word would be very precious in those troubled times. 

1 The meaning is partially obscured by the introdnction of the pronoun " this " 
in the English version. In the margin it is given correctly — " the way." 



196 



The Church in the House. 



Christ was their way to the Father ; faith in him was their 
way to pardon and peace. " The way " in those times was 
their path across the wilderness, and their entrance into rest. 

The term "Methodist" has been similarly employed in 
recent British history ; and it is interesting to notice, although 
the English terms do not reveal the circumstance, that the 
same Greek word is the root of both epithets. 

Women were not exempt : when and where have they 
been exempt, when persecution for Christ's sake was raging ? 
From the commission given to Saul, empowering him to drag 
women as well as men before the Jewish tribunals, down to 
the time when godly women were tied to stakes in the rising 
tide of the Solway by order of a blood-thirsty government, 
the persecutor has always succeeded in quenching the voice 
of nature in his own breast. He spares neither age nor sex. 
From the beginning women have followed the Saviour, in his 
suffering, and suffered for his sake. 

The authorised agent was charged to bring the prisoners to 
Jerusalem for trial — such trial as Stephen obtained there — 
such trial as the Inquisition accorded to its victims in the 
dark ages — such trial as the Pope and the Jesuits would give 
us to-day, if they had power. 

" And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus : and 
suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven." 
We are approaching the crisis now. I think this was, and 
was intended to be, the most striking and important indi- 
vidual conversion between Christ's ascension and his return 
to judge the world. In its results, direct and indirect, it is 
the largest single fruit that has yet been gathered from the 
tree of righteousness that the Lord by his death and 
resurrection planted in the world. 

As we approach the turning-point — the meeting-place — we 
stand in awe. For Christians this spot is holy ground. 



Saul. 



197 



Like the three disciples on the mount, we fear as we enter 
the cloud ; for here the Eedeemer is transfigured, and dis- 
plays more of his glory than mortal eye may easily bear. 

From a comparison of this narrative with the accounts 
of the same event given subsequently by Paul in his public 
apologies, it results that while his companions heard a voice, 
Saul only distinguished the articulate speech of a person ; 
and that while they all fell to the earth at the first appear- 
ance of the light, the rest of the company soon rose to their 
feet again, while Saul continued prostrate to hear the word 
of the Lord. All the company beheld the light with which 
the risen J esus that day clothed himself as with a garment ; 
but Saul alone saw the Divine Person who wore that robe of 
glory. All heard a sound ; but he alone felt the word as a 
two-edged sword penetrating his joints and marrow. Similar 
distinctions occur in our day. One is taken, and another 
left. A thousand may hear the word of the kingdom, and 
the kingdom come in power to only a single soul. 

Here the Lord takes unto himself his mighty power and 
reigns. He subdues and leads captive the greatest enemy 
of his throne. He makes openly a show of Jewish unbelief 
in the person of its chosen champion, and uses the captive 
then as an instrument to promote his own design. The Lord 
had need of human energy and genius in its highest measure 
— of a moral power that sweeps all lighter things before it 
in whatever direction it may move, like a river in flood — 
of Hebrew lore and Greek culture blended together in one 
capacious mind, — of all these the Lord had need for the work 
of the kingdom ; and sovereignly he seized the vessel which 
contained them all in fullest measure, that he might employ 
it as he employed the ancient prophet, " to root out, and to 
pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and 
to plant" (Jer. i. 10). 



iq8 The Church in the House. 



XL. 

THE LORD'S WOED— CONSOLATION. 

"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou nie ? "—Acts ix. 4. 

IT was near Damascus ; it was at mid-day ; there was a 
considerable company ; great publicity was given to the 
transaction ; every circumstance is a separate witness to the 
truth of the narrative. But the best evidence of the fact is 
the mighty effect that followed. By the conversion of Paul 
the course of human history has been diverted ; the extant 
result bears witness of the efficient cause. 

A circumfused light appeared to all the company ; to Saul 
alone the glorified Eedeemer articulately appeared. All 
heard a voice ; Saul alone heard him, the manifested Man, 
speaking to himself. The voice said to him, " Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou me ? " 

It is not very long since these words were spoken. A 
succession of nineteen men, if each should live a hundred 
years, would suffice to span the space ; and nineteen men, 
with hands outspread and touching each other, would not 
constitute to our vision a very long row. It is less than two 
thousand years — in God's account, less than two days — since 
the Lord Jesus uttered these words to check the career of a 
persecutor, and shield his suffering little ones. It may not 
be very long ere that voice shall speak again, so that every 
ear shall hear it. The Lord is not slack concerning his 
promise. 

We are now suspended between the first and second 
appearings of the Lord. It is bat a little time since he was 
here — and it is but a little time till he come again. In the 
interval he abideth near, with his watchful eye over us, and 



The Lord's Word — Consolation. 199 



his everlasting arms underneath. His ears are' open to his 
people's cry, and his heart sensitive to their pains and fears. 
" Lo ! I am with you alway." 

This word of the Lord Jesus is a two-edged sword. It 
carries comfort to those who are within, and reproof to those 
who are without. It is spoken to an adversary ; but it is 
spoken for a friend. It is worthy of remark here that the 
first comfort given to fallen men was conveyed in a word 
spoken to their destroyer. It was in a rebuke addressed to 
the serpent that the gospel was first preached (Gen. iii. 15). 
After the same manner was Israel comforted in times of 
trial ; the word spoken for them was not spoken to them : 
" Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." 
From time to time a reproving word or a judgment-stroke 
was sent against Pharaoh or the King of Babylon ; and this 
was God's way of protecting his chosen heritage. Here, too, 
the Head will sustain the members, by a reproof addressed 
to the waster of the Church. 

I scarcely know a more comforting word than this in all 
the Bible. Nowhere else is the oneness of Christ and his 
people more clearly expressed. The speaker is not now the 
Man of Sorrows. He asserts the identity of himself and his 
people, after all power in heaven and in earth has been 
placed in his hands. He is God over all, and blessed for 
ever, who here proclaims to the persecutor, " Inasmuch as 
you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you 
have done it unto me." 

As you experience pain when any member of your body 
is hurt, Christ, the Head of the spiritual body — the Church 
that he has bought with his blood — cries out when an 
enemy's hand strikes some poor saints in Damascus. So 
when Satan desired to have Peter, that he might sift him as 
wheat, and drive him by the power of temptation, like chaff 



200 



The Church in the House. 



unto the fire, the Lord himself felt the strain in his own 
breast, and interfered to shield his frail disciple. The life 
that is "hid with Christ in God" is truly a charmed life. 
No assassin's weapon can reach it in its hiding-place. 
Although the powers of darkness should bind themselves 
under a great oath to shroud this lower world in perpetual 
night, they could not accomplish their purpose unless they 
had power to pluck the sun from the sky. So these powers 
of darkness could not quench the light of life in any 
Christian, unless they should first extinguish the Sun of 
righteousness. 

Nor is this privilege confined to those who are eminent in 
the faith. Safety is secured, and therefore measured, by the 
power, not of the saved, but of the Saviour. A British 
subject is found on the territory of a powerful but barbarian 
king. The tyrant casts his eye on the forlorn stranger, and 
would fain take away his liberty or his life. But the power 
of the Queen overshadows him. The advisers of this savage 
chief show him that if he touch a hair of that stranger's 
head a British ship will bombard his capital, and subvert 
his throne. The man is safe ; but his safety is not due to 
his own strength or skill. The feeblest woman, or the 
tenderest child, would in such a case be as safe as the most 
stalwart soldier. Safety in no sense and in no measure 
depends on the individual's power, but on the power of the 
government which recognises him as its subject. It is on a 
principle somewhat similar that the safety of disciples is 
insured. Their resource is not, I am strong ; but, I am 
His — and He is almighty. 

Why persecutest thou me ? Saul was not directing his 
stroke up to the heavens ; he pointed not his spear to Jesus' 
side. Our goodness — our badness, Lord, reacheth not unto 
thee. How, then ? " Thou persecutest me " — " of whom 



The Lord's Word — Consolation. 201 



speaketh the prophet this ? of himself or of some other 
man V Of some other man, some trembling disciple cower- 
ing in the lanes of Damascus, and dreading lest Saul should 
stone him, as he stoned Stephen, for being a disciple of 
Christ. Of this man Christ speaks ; but speaks of him as a 
part of himself — feels as we feel when a member is pierced. 
The principle was abundantly explained by the Lord in the 
course of his earthly ministry. 

Let Saul venture to say, Lord, when did we search thee 
out in thy humble hiding-place, and drag thee before the 
judge, and witness against thee, and put thee to death ? The 
King shall answer him from his throne, Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me. 

Here is my safety — that he counts me his ; and not only 
so, but has made me part of himself, so that a stroke dealt 
by the enemy against me runs up and pains him on his throne. 

Who shall tell how many dangers have been thus averted 
from us, when we did not know or think of either our danger 
or our deliverer ? I suppose some of the saints in and near 
Damascus had heard of the persecutor's approach, and feared 
him ; but it is probable also that others in danger by his 
approach did not know that he was near. By that light- 
flash which prostrated Saul without the gate, these persons 
were protected, although they were not aware either of the 
danger or the deliverance. 

I supposed the saved when they reach the Father's house 
will have occupation for their leisure in numbering up all 
God's mercies ; and perhaps nothing will be sweeter as an 
ingredient of their joy than the discoveries of one and 
another signal rescue that Christ achieved for them, while 
they, like an infant sleeping in a burning house, were aware 
neither of the flame that was already singeing their garments, 



202 The Church in the House, 

nor of the strong arm of that brother who bore them beyond 
its reach. Oh, that will be joyful, joyful ! when from the 
open books we shall read the entries of many fiery darts 
that flew pointed to our breast, and all these received and 
quenched on the interposed shield of almighty, unslumbering 
love. 



XLI. 

THE LOED'S WOED — BEPEOOF. 

" And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me ? " — Acts ix. 4. 

THE word of the Lord to Saul carried, as we have seen, 
great consolation to disciples : it bears also a terrible 
reproof to the adversaries of the gospel. 

Mark well here, first of all, that although Saul is an 
enemy to this Jesus, this Jesus is not an enemy to Saul. 
This word is not spoken to cast him out, but to melt him 
down, and so win him near. "My thoughts are not your 
thoughts." " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
as snow." It is written of Jesus, in the time of his humilia- 
tion, that when he was reviled, he reviled not again. This 
is true of him also in his glory. He draws clear, deep 
distinction between the converted and the unconverted ; but 
the distinction does not lie in that the converted are received 
into favour, while the unconverted are cast away : it lies in 
this — those that are already near are cherished as dear 
children, and the distant prodigals are invited to turn and 
live. He does indeed divide the world into two : his favour 
compasses about his own people ; but even his enemies he 
does not consume with the breath of his mouth. Christ's 



The Lord's Word — Reproof. 



203 



word out of heaven to his enemies is a tender entreaty that 
they should arise and go to the Father. 

Nor should any one that now enjoys peace in the Beloved 
be surprised at this Divine generosity. It «is a generosjfcy 



that every saved sinner has himself enjoyed. If Chri^0iad 
always shown favour to his friends, and always cast his 
persecutors into the pit, where would you and I have been to- 
day ? If, when we were his enemies, he melted us by his 
mercy and won us over to himself, we need not wonder to find 
that he still keeps the door open for those who are without. 

The form of this address, in the first place, betrays the 
tenderness of Jesus before we reach its substance. There is 
a peculiar meaning in the twofold repetition of the name. 
This formula expresses at once sharp condemnation and 
tender pity. When you intend a simple approval or a simple 
disapproval, you call the name only once. It is when you 
intend both to condemn and to win back that you duplicate 
the call. When a child is called to receive either a reward 
or a punishment, he is named only once; but when you 
intend first to reprove him for his fault, and then to invite 
him to favour, you name him twice. John, sounded out 
singly, may be the prelude either to praise or to blame ; 
but John, John, always means both that he is doing evil, 
and that you mean him good. You may find examples in 
( Scripture. 

John xx. 16, "Jesus saith unto her, Mary !" — all tender- 
' ness, all approval. On the other hand, Luke x. 41, 42, 
1 " Martha, Martha," at once rebukes her cumbering care, and 
1 invites her to sit at Jesus' feet. " Jerusalem, Jerusalem," 
"Simon, Simon," will be found, by examination of the 
1 context, to contain a stern reproof woven in with a tender 
! invitation. In Matt. xvi. you will find two examples of a 
f single call both simple : the one (verse 17) simple approval, 




2 04 The Church in the House. 

with no reproof; the other, addressed to Satan possessing 
Peter (verse 23), simple condemnation, with no invitation to 
return. It was the double call that Jesus uttered that day 
in the persecutor's ears ; and it is the double call that he 
addresses to the wide world to-day. At the winding up of 
the world's history, when the day of grace is done, there will 
be no double call. The call is single then — the call either 
to the saved or to the lost. On this side, Ye cursed, depart ; 
and on that side, Ye blessed, come. Saul, Saul, meant both 
that Saul was wicked, and Christ was merciful ; both that 
Saul was hating Christ, and Christ was pitying Saul. This 
is the type of call that the risen and reigning Jesus is now 
addressing to the world. He names a sinner once, to 
announce the condemnation which he deserves; he names 
the sinner a second time, to intimate that in the blood of the 
Lamb that condemnation may be taken away. The first 
stroke is the charge, bringing guilt home to the guilty ; the 
second stroke is the discharge, offered without money and 
without price. Welcome that first word as a sharp sword to 
penetrate the conscience, and compel you to explain in agony, 
" 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from 
the body of this death?" for the second stroke will quickly 
follow, manifesting a tender, divine compassion which will 
cause you to sing, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ 
my Lord." Out of thy mouth, glorified Eedeemer, issues a 
sharp two-edged sword. Strike me with it once, 0 Lord, 
that I may cry, What must I do to be saved ? And strike 
again, Lord, that the word may heal the wound which the 
word has made. 

In Saul's case, the redoubled stroke was effectual. The 
persecutor's heart was very hard, and yet under the repetition 
it yielded. He grieved for the sin that was rebuked, and 
accepted the pardon that was offered. 



The Lord' s W ord — Reproof. 205 



Listen, all who are still without ; who are not living in 
Christ, but beating by a self-pleasing will against him — 
listen to his double word. Worldling, worldling, why 
neglectest thou me? Hypocrite, hypocrite, why woundest 
thou me ? 

The one word is spoken to smite — the Lord is angry : 
Melt, stony heart, and flow down. The other word is spoken 
to heal and pardon : Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise 
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

Return now to the main lesson of this text — consolation 
to believers. As a member depends for life and growth on 
its union with the living body, so a disciple depends on 
faith's union with the Head. Eemember the words of the 
Lord Jesus, how he said, " I am the vine, ye are the branches." 
So closely is the life of a Christian entwined round the life 
of Christ, that when an enemy smites the member, the 
Head in heaven cries out. One inference from this fact 
is, How safe a believer is ! But another inference is, How 
sober a believer should be ! The seal set upon him is 
twofold — has an inscription on either side. If the legend 
on the upper side be, "The Lord knoweth them that 
are his," surely the legend on the under side should stand 
out boldly relieved, so that he may run who reads it, " Let 
every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from 
iniquity" (2 Tim. ii. 19). 

The Head cries when the member is hurt by foreign 
, violence ; but, oh, the Head is still more agonised when 
the member suffers from internal disease ! The tainted 
blood of the member circulates upward to the heart. Thus 
i the vanity, pride, envy, avarice, impurity of a disciple, hurt 
, the heart of the Holy One. If we have hope that our life 
I is hid with Christ in God, there is no motive so strong for 
putting away all that defileth : " Every man that hath this 



206 



The Church in the House. 



hope in Him purifieth himself, even as he is pure " (1 John 
iii. 3). 

When the viper fastened on Paul's hand he shook it off 
into the fire. I think he did not shake his hand slowly and 
softly on that occasion. I think he shook the viper off his 
flesh with a shudder. But he would not cast it off with 
nervous violence merely on account of the wound, not more 
than skin-deep, that it might possibly make on his hand. 
In such a case it is not the scratch on the skin that we 
think about. We are aware that the blood tainted in the 
member passes in a few moments to the heart. It is this 
that imparts an awful gravity to the case. 

In like manner, when life in the Lord is enjoyed and 
realised, the heart of a believer shakes off sin with eager 
horror, because it will hurt the heart of Christ. 

There is a skilfully contrived apparatus by the use of 
which a man can dive to the bottom of the sea ; can remain 
there long; can walk about and search for lost treasure 
within the hold of a sunken ship, and bring it up with him 
when he rises to the surface again. The person in charge 
above, both sends down the breath of life to the diver while 
he is under water, and draws him up out of the water when 
his work is done. 

Christians in this life are like divers busy at the bottom 
of the sea. They are not only in the sea — they are beneath 
it. Many waters overflow them, but these waters cannot 
quench their life ; for a mysterious invisible line is stretched 
between them and their Eedeemer in the heavens. He 
sends down to them the breath of life, so that though the 
waters overflow they cannot drown them : and when they 
have seen his wonders and done his work for a while in the 
great deep, — when they have trodden for a time this watery, 
slimy wilderness, and gathered treasures there for him who 



The Enemy surrenders. 



207 



sent them down, he will draw them out of the waters. He 
will bring them into a large place. 

When time is done, and the affairs of the world are wound 
up, he will gather unto himself all his own. None of them 
shall be lost, for he must be full. The command will go 
forth, North, give up ; South, keep not back ; Earth, give up 
thy dead ; and, Sea, surrender thine ! If the earth should 
try to close and hold fast any of his little ones, the cry 
would issue from the throne, the cry of this same Jesus : 
"Grave, grave, why holdest thou me ?" On that day he will 
I ^0 all his pleasure ; on this day, blessed are they that are 
xound in him. 



XLII. 

THE ENEMY SURRENDERS. 

And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou 
persecutest : it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling 
and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? And the Lord 
said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what 
thou must do," etc. — Acts ix. 5-14. 

SAUL w T as immediately and fully aware that he had a 
person to deal with. "Whether, in the first moment of 
I his terror, all that Stephen had preached of Jesus living and 
reigning flashed into his memory, we do not know ; but it 
; is probable that the thought of Jesus, whom Stephen saw at 
i his dying moment, was on Saul's mind when he put his first 
! question, "Who art thou, Lord?" Jesus condescends to 

• answer him, for he knew that the persecutor was in earnest 
» now: "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." In this 

• expression all the reproof and consolation contained in the 
0 first word of the Lord is repeated and is redoubled. 



208 



The Church in the House. 



The proverbial expression " kick against the pricks/' like 
many of the Lord's sayings, gives a whole parable in a single 
sentence. Since attention has been paid to Oriental customs, 
the meaning of the phrase is clearly and easily understood. 
The oxen, while under the yoke, were goaded by a long, 
slender, sharpened rod. Irritated by the puncture, they 
sometimes kicked against the instrument that pained them. 
This, of course, only lacerated their limbs the more. The 
parable curtly intimates that Saul was in the grasp of 
irresistible power, and that it would be wisdom simply 
to submit. 

His next question accordingly indicates implicit sub- 
mission : " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" He 
surrenders at discretion. As yet, however, his knowledge is 
very dim. It has often been remarked that he displays the 
character of a novice in demanding what he should do ; and 
that the Lord, through Ananias, sent him a message more in 
accordance with the cross which he was called to bear: 
" I will show him how great things he must suffer for my 
name's sake." 

But while, for great purposes, the risen Lord personally 
meets the arch-enemy in order to subdue him, he does not 
in person undertake the disciple's instruction. He hands 
him over to the ministry of man. A simple Christian 
disciple, not otherwise known, becomes the educator of the 
great apostle. 

While Saul lay prostrate, probably his eyes were shut ; it 
was when he rose, and endeavoured to look around, that he 
discovered his blindness. When he opened his eyes he saw 
nothing. They led him by the hand, and brought him 
to Damascus. 

In Damascus he remained three days and three nights, 
and neither did eat nor drink. During that time three 



The Enemy surrenders. 209 



main channels of communication with earth were cut off; 
he saw not, he ate not, he drank not. Isolated from earth, 
he enters into communication with Heaven ; for, " behold, he 
prayeth." The Spirit possesses him. Hungry, thirsty, blind, 
he comes to God for food, drink, sight. Nothing from the 
world now ; all from Christ. This vessel has now been 
emptied, and will soon be filled again. Emptied of all below, 
he will be filled, through the channel of prayer, from the 
treasures that are at God's right hand ; emptied of himself, 
and filled with Christ. Thus, in conversion generally, by 
means more gentle or more violent, a soul is severed for a 
time from its relations to earth, that so it may have leisure 
and freedom to transact with God for eternity. The new 
birth is sometimes more and sometimes less prolonged, with 
more or less of agony. 

At some points the experiences of Saul and the Ethiopian 
are parallel, and at some in contrast. These two journeys 
may be compared with profit. The Ethiopian a Gentile, Saul 
a Jew. The Gentile journeyed toward Jerusalem to seek 
Christ; the Jew journeyed from Jerusalem to persecute 
Christians. In the one case the Scripture exemplified is, 
" Seek, and ye shall find ;" in the other, " I am found of 
them who sought me not." The Lord on high looked 
sovereignly and mercifully on both travellers. He gave the 
one what he sought, and the other what he sought not. 
Both were blessed, and in the end both receivers lived to 
the Giver's praise. 

I have already thrown out the suggestion that if Saul 
and Stephen should meet in heaven, they might with profit 
compare notes of their several experiences. The meeting 
of Saul and the Ethiopian would be equally interesting. 
When the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, it will 
be found that the devout and humble inquirer will get 



210 



The Church in the House. 



\ 



no more glory than the proud and cruel blasphemer. It 
will be found that both were made willing by the same 
power. There were indeed diversities of operation; but 
the Worker was one. This man was won by a secret 
distilling of the Spirit, like dew from heaven, upon his 
heart ; that man was subdued by a sudden stroke of omni- 
potence : but both alike will ascribe all to the grace of their 
Redeemer. 

After three days of blindness and fasting — three days 
spent, probably, in a great conflict between conscience and 
the Divine law — the fastenings of a stony heart at length 
gave way, and the penitent melted into prayer. Now that 
the wound has gone deep enough, a healing ministry 
will be sent. Go to him, Ananias ; for, " behold, he prayeth." 
Now that the branch is let into the vine, it is Christ 
in one of his members who is hungry and blind, and 
weeping there. The Lord in heaven changes his voice 
now : " Ananias, leave not Me any longer in darkness 
and want in the house of Judas, in the street that is 
called Straight." 

The conflict that raged during those three days in the 
stricken persecutor's breast, has been in part recorded for our 
instruction. The self-dissection contained in Eom. vii. must 
have had a great deal to do with the three days of agony 
in Damascus. 

Although certified that Saul was praying, Ananias did 
not immediately feel at ease in the prospect of meeting 
him. The lion is now ready to lie down with the kid, but 
the kid naturally starts back at first sight of that dreaded 
beast of prey. 

Another new name occurs here first as applied to the 
disciples of Christ — Ananias calls them " thy saints." He 
must have known that they deserved that name, otherwise 



The Enemy surrenders. 



211 



he would not have ventured to apply it to them in speaking 
to the Searcher of hearts. 

This last name has borne a great part in history. It was 
at first a true designation. The name sprung up naturally 
from a root of fact. These men were separated from the 
vanity and the wickedness of the world. They had a home 
on high, and they did not lay up treasures on earth. They 
walked with God, and did not lie to men. They expected 
to stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, and did not over- 
reach their neighbours in business. They had been them- 
selves bought with a price, and owed all to forgiving love ; 
therefore they were ready to forgive even unto seventy times 
seven provocations. 

But in process of time the word was turned aside from 
its true meaning, and applied to those whom the hierarchy 
of Eome delighted to honour. Some very good men, and 
some very bad men, have obtained at different times that 
Divinity degree from the Pope and his council. It is now 
an expensive and worthless form. As a natural consequence 
of the misuse of the name in what was called the Church, 
the world outside has in modern times turned it into a term 
of reproach. It is very often employed as a sneer. But, 
although a false pretence to saintship deserves ail the 
mockery it gets, it remains that there is such a thing as 
holiness (comparative) not in heaven only, but also here on 
earth. Through the grace of God, and by the ministry of 
the Spirit, a real holiness is wrought in the heart and life of 
Christians. It is their part to strive after more. What a 
noble aim is set before us! to fill up this character with 
substantial purity and truth, so wrenching the weapon from 
the scorner's hand. 



212 



The Church in the House. 



XLIII. 

THE VESSEL CHOSEN AND CHAKGED. 

" But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen vessel unto me, 
to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." 
— Acts ix. 15. 

WE shall best explain and apply the text by examining 
its terms in succession, one by one. 
1. A vessel. — The term signifies the implement by which 
any work is done, or the dish in which anything is held. It 
is an instrument constructed and fitted for use in any species 
of operation. 

All the world is the field whereon God works, and it is 
full of the instruments which he employs. Every flower, 
every leaf, every tendril is a cunningly contrived instrument, 
designed and fitted for carrying on some delicate process in 
the vegetable economy. In animals, every member of the 
body is a tool with which the creature, — with which the 
great Creator works. The eye, the ear, the tongue, the foot, 
and a thousand other exquisite instruments, hang at hand in 
the workshop, ready for the worker's use. 

Each separate part of creation, again, is an instrument in 
God's hands for carrying his plans into effect. The internal 
fires of the globe are his instruments for heaving up the 
mountain ridges, and causing the intervening valleys to 
subside. The clouds are vessels employed in carrying water 
from its great reservoir in the ocean to every portion of the 
thirsty land. The rivers are waste-pipes for carrying back 
the soiled water that it may be purified for subsequent use. 
The sun is an instrument for lighting and warming a troop 
of revolving worlds ; and the earth's huge bulk a curtain for 
screening off the sunlight at stated intervals, and so affording 



The Vessel chosen mid charged. 



213 



to weary workers a grateful night of rest. Chief of all the 
implements provided and employed on earth is man — made 
last, made best for his Author's service ; broken, disfigured, 
and defiled by sin, but capable of working wondrously yet, 
when redeemed, and restored, and employed again. 

God has not cast away the best of all his instruments 
because it was marred and polluted. He has conceived and 
executed a costly plan for redeeming and renewing it. He 
spared not his own Son, that he might have from this fallen 
family a multitude of vessels full of his love — a multitude 
of fitting instruments employed in his service. A soul won 
is the best instrument for winning souls. 

2. A chosen vessel. — This man, who was raised from the 
ground by his companions and led blind into Damascus, is 
the vessel whom the Lord has sovereignly chosen, and will 
graciously employ. 

" The eyes of the Lord are in every place." " Known unto 
God are all his works." Compassing him about in all his 
ways, God felt every throb of impotent anger that was 
beating in the persecutor's heart. Although the vessel was 
marred and occupied with evil, its Maker counted it still 
his own. He can employ the evil as his unconscious instru- 
ments, or make them willing in the day of his power. When 
he had chastised backsliding Israel by the King of Babylon, 
he broke the rod and threw it away. In other cases he turns 
the king's heart as a river of water, and then accepts the 
willing homage of a converted man. 

It was a polished and capacious vessel that the Great 
King wrenched from the hands of the arch-enemy near the 
gate of Damascus. One of the clearest intellects that ever 
glowed in a human frame changed hands that day. Saul 
was a man of rare courage. He was a good soldier of the 
wicked one before he owned allegiance to Christ. He did 



2 14 The Church in the House, 

what lie said. The purposes which his heart devised his 
hand executed. "I verily thought I ought to do many 
things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing 
I also did." The vessel was capacious, and the capacious 
vessel was full. All the learning of the time had been 
poured into it. The traditions of the J ews and the philosophy 
of the Greeks lay and seethed together in that roomy and 
restless brain. Not only was his head full of notions ; his 
heart was fired with a resolute purpose, and his arm was 
nerved by a dauntless will. He was Christ's chief enemy 
then in the world. He breathed forth threatenings and 
slaughter against the members of the Church, blasphemies 
against its living Head. God looks down from heaven on 
this man, not as an adversary whose assaults are formidable, 
but as an instrument which may be turned to another use. 
As clay in the hands of the potter this man lies. The vessel 
may be broken in anger, or employed in labours of love, as 
the Maker wills. Arrested at the crisis of its course by a 
hand unseen, it is turned upside down, emptied of its 
accumulated filth, purged from all its dross, filled from 
heaven's pure treasures, and used to water the world with 
the word of life. Under God's eye and in God's hand, this 
man is not a formidable antagonist, but simply a vessel to 
be broken in judgment, or purified for use on earth and in 
heaven. 

Saul of Tarsus, called to be an apostle, is a conspicuous 
example of Divine sovereignty. He did not first choose 
Christ, but Christ chose him. He was in the way of evil 
when the Lord met him with subduing, forgiving, renew- 
ing mercy. When human pride is at last silenced by the 
sense of redeeming love, it is sweet to feel and own that 
Jesus is at once the author and the finisher of our faith — 
" the beginning of the creation of God " within renewed 



The Vessel chosen and charged. 2 1 5 

human hearts on earth, and the ending thereof when the 
spirits of the just are made perfect in his presence. Christ 
is first and last — all in all. I recognise God's command to 
me, that I should turn and live ; I recognise my duty to 
close with his offer ; I recognise the justice of my condem- 
nation if I refuse to comply. God bids me believe and live : 
I ought to obey ; but if I obey and be saved like Paul, like 
him I shall say and sing, as the history of my redemption, 
When I was wandering helpless further and further towards 
death, the Good Shepherd followed and found me, turned 
me round, and bore me back to his fold. 

3. A vessel unto me,. — Two things lie in the conversion of 
Paul and in every conversion : the man gets an almighty 
Saviour, and God gets a willing servant. The true instinct 
of the new creature burst forth from Paul's breast as soon as 
he knew his Saviour, and before he was lifted from the 
ground, — " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do V The 
answer, sent through Ananias in Damascus, after the tumult 
had subsided, indicated to the convert what he should be, 
rather than what he should do : " He is a chosen vessel unto 
me." We get a glimpse here of the two tendencies, the 
human and the Divine. I shall do, says the disciple in the 
ardour of a first love ; Thou shalt be, answers that wise and 
kind Master, who knows that the spirit in the disciple is 
willing, but the flesh weak. To be like Christ is the most 
effectual way of working for Christ. I shall bear the vessels 
of the Lord, volunteers the ransomed sinner, when he feels 
that he is not his own, but bought with a price ; the reply 
to this offer requires a less positive, more passive, and yet 
greater thing : Thou shalt be the vessel of the Lord. It is a 
great thing that I should take up instruments, and do a work 
for Christ in the world ; but it is a greater that Christ 
should take me in his hand, and work out his purposes with 



2l6 



The Church in the House. 



me. " A people near unto him," is an ancient appellation 
of the saved. Surely they are near him who are held as a 
vessel in his hand. This is our security, alike for safety and 
usefulness. The star that is in his right hand is held up so 
that it cannot fall, and held out so that it shines afar. When 
he chooses a vessel he uses it ; he neither keeps it idle nor 
casts it away. 



" But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen vessel unto me, 
to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." 
— Acts ix. 15. 



4. A VESSEL to hear my name. — The text tells not only what 



XjL he is and whose he is, but also and specifically to what 
uses he will "be applied. He was a vessel firmly put together, 
and filled to overflowing, before J esus met him on the way. 
At that meeting he was emptied of his miscellaneous vanities, 
and filled with the name of Christ. See an account of the 
whole process by his own pen : " If any other man thinketh 
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : 
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the 
tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching 
the law, a Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ; 
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : 
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count 
them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. iii. 4-8). 



XLIV. 



THE VESSEL EMPLOYED. 




The Vessel employed. 



217 



The whole stock-in-trade of the self-righteous Pharisee is 
inventoried here. Himself delights to display the filthy 
rags, and make a show of them openly. He appropriates 
the shame to himself, that the glory may rise to his Lord. 
He recounts how these were cast out at the great change, 
and counted no longer gain, but loss. When these are cast 
out, however, he does not remain empty. No man ever yet 
did cast out his own self-righteousness from mere dislike of 
it. As the money-changers were driven from the Temple 
only at and by the entrance of Jesus, so the false confidences 
maintain their ground in a human heart until they are 
displaced by the presence of the Lord our Righteousness. 
All these carefully gathered, tenderly cherished stores, he 
now counts loss ; but it is for Christ. He counted them 
precious as long as he knew none other. He never pro- 
posed to sell off all that he had, or anything that he had, 
until he fell in with the pearl of great price. The old adage 
is true in fact although defective in philosophy : Nature 
abhors a vacuum ; and in nature, whether its material or 
spiritual department, a vacuum is never found. Each man 
is full either of his own things or of Christ's. 

The name of Christ is the precious thing wherewith the 
vessel is charged. So full was Paul of this treasure, that he 
determined in his ministry to know none other. Whether 
the apostle be considered for the moment a vessel for bearing 
seed, or one for bearing water, the result is the same. It is 
of the things of Christ that the ministering Spirit takes and 
gives to the disciples, that they may drop the seed into 
broken hearts, or offer cold water to thirsty souls. There is 
none other name given under heaven among men whereby 
we must be saved. 

5. To bear my name hefore Gentiles, and kings, and the 
people of Israel. — The name of Christ is the treasure which 



218 



The Church in the House, 



the vessel bears ; to the Gentiles, and kings, and the people 
of Israel the vessel bears it. This bread of life, like the manna 
which fell in the wilderness, is given to be used, not to be 
hoarded. To be ever getting, ever giving, is the only way 
of keeping both the vessel and its treasure sweet. The more 
you give to others, the more you enjoy for your own use. 
The twelve had a fuller meal in that desert place, after they 
had distributed the bread among five thousand, than they 
would have had if they had dined alone. Christ is with his 
people still, to bless and multiply the portion of every cheer- 
ful giver. 

Certain classes are enumerated before whom Paul should 
be a witness for Christ. Before, or, more literally, " in the 
face of" these, this vessel must bear that precious name. 
The. form of the expression indicates that in this ministry 
self-denying courage is required. Perhaps the series, in this 
respect, constitutes a climax. It is easier to speak of Christ 
and his salvation to the Gentiles than to kings, and easier to 
speak of him to kings than to his own chosen people. 
Israels enmity against the Lord's Anointed was keener than 
that of the surrounding nations. He came unto his own, 
and his own received him not ; but to some, even of these, 
he gave power to become the sons of God. Paul himself 
was one of the first-fruits of the seed of Abraham, and a 
harvest has been gathered since. To this day, however, the 
nation in its main bulk remains more obstinate than the 
heathen in refusing to have this Man to reign over them. 

In our day, too, there are various classes and characters of 
men who need the testimony of Jesus. Those who possess 
it should be prepared to bear it about in every place, and 
hold it forth in any company. This witness in his day was 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; would that all our 
Christianity were as honest and as strong! If we quail 



The Vessel employed. 



219 



where the majority profess to be on our side, what would 
have become of us if our lot had been cast in the beginning 
of the gospel, when its disciples were obliged to confront 
an adverse world? May the Lord increase our faith, and 
increase, too, that which hangs next beneath it in Peter's 
golden chain of graces — the courage to confess our Saviour 
before friend and foe. 

But, perhaps, we should not speak of more courage being 
required to maintain a good confession in one place, and less 
in another ; for with God it is as easy to keep the ocean 
within its bed, as to balance a dew-drop on a blade of grass ; 
and the same principle rules in the distribution of grace to 
disciples of Christ. Without it, the strongest is not sufficient 
for anything ; with it, the feeblest is sufficient for all. Our 
martyr forefathers, who, by the peace of God ruling in their 
hearts, were enabled to make a good confession at the stake, 
would, if left to themselves, have denied their Lord under 
the blandishments of a godless drawing-room. To the eye 
of sense, the faithfulness of this generation is not tested by 
so severe a strain ; but the difference lies mainly in the out- 
ward appearance. The human heart is still as deceitful, and 
the god of this world still as powerful, as in the days of old. 
In our own strength we cannot overcome the least tempta- 
tion ; through Christ that strengthened us we can conquer 
the greatest. 

Not before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel, 
are we summoned to bear witness for Christ ; but we stand 
daily in a place and presence where the temptation to deny 
him is equally strong. A Christian young man in a great 
workshop, a Christian young lady in a gay and fashionable 
family, is either carried away like chaff before the wind, or 
stands fast by a modern miracle of grace. 

We are so many vessels, labelled on the outside with the 



220 



The Church in the House. 



name of Christ ; what we are really charged with may not 
be seen at a distance or discovered in a day. Those, however, 
who stand near these vessels often or long, will by degrees 
find out what they contain. By its occasional overflowings, 
especially when it is unexpectedly and violently shaken, the 
secret will be revealed. Some are looking on who do not 
believe that the Spirit which fills us is the Spirit of Christ ; 
and they lie in wait for evidence to prove their opinion true. 
For their own sakes let them find it false. Before them 
bear the name of Christ, when needful, on your lips, the 
Spirit of Christ in your heart, the example of Christ in your 
conduct. 

But the word which requires that we should be witnesses 
unto Christ is peculiarly apt to slip from our grasp, especially 
when the specimen exhibited is some eminent saint. An 
indolent, earthly selfishness, under pretence of humility, like 
Satan in an angel's dress, cunningly suggests the distinction 
between a common ungifted man and the great apostle of 
the Gentiles. He was a worthy witness ; but what could 
we do, although we did our best ? If you are a sinner for- 
given through the blood of Christ, in the greatest things Paul 
and you are equal; unequal only in the least. In the things 
that reach up to heaven and through eternity, there is no 
perceptible difference ; the distinction is confined to the 
earth and time. You, a lost sinner, get pardon and eternal 
life in God's dear Son ; and what does he get more? Getting 
as much from your Lord, you may love your Lord as much. 
In the economy of grace, a shallower vessel serves nearly 
every purpose as well as a deeper, if both are full of Christ. 

In nature, the shallowest lake, provided it be full, sends 
up as many clouds to heaven as the deepest, for the same 
sunlight beams equally on both their bosoms. This law may 
often be seen at work in the spiritual kingdom. " Glory to 



The Lord reigneth. 



22 1 



God in the highest " rises in a stream as strong and pure 
from a sinner saved who lays out one talent in a lowly sphere, 
as from a sinner saved who wields ten talents in the sight of 
an applauding world. Nay, more ; as a lake within the 
tropics, though shallow, gives more incense to the sky than 
a polar ocean of unfathomable depth, so a Christian of few 
gifts, whose heart lies open fair and long to the Sun of 
righteousness, is a more effectual witness than a man of 
greater capacity who lies not so near, and looks not so con- 
stantly to Jesus. 



XLV. 

THE LORD REIGNETH. 

" But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to 
bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. " — 
Acts ix. 15. 

IN the coarser work of breaking up his own way at first, 
God freely uses the powers of nature and the passions 
of wicked men ; but for the nicer touches near the finishing, 
he employs more sensitive instruments. A work of right- 
eousness is about to be done upon the person of a Greek 
jailer at Philippi. Mark the method of the omniscient 
"Worker. A strong coarse tool he seizes first, and therewith 
strikes the hard material, with the view of carrying it through 
a certain preparatory stage ; then with an instrument of more 
ethereal temper and keener edge, which he had previously 
placed within reach, he completes the process. The earth- 
quake, which shook the foundations of the prison, rent the 
outer searing of the jailer's conscience, and made an open 
path into his soul. In such work the powers of nature could 



222 



The Church in the House. 



no further go. What an earthquake could not do, God did 
by a renewed human heart, and gentle, loving human lips. 
From the same chosen vessel that Ananias had visited at 
Damascus, the ointment was poured forth which healed the 
jailer's wound. " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved," said Paul : the rude heathen believed and 
lived. 

Thus God works to-day, both in secret individual con- 
versions and in wide-spread national revivals. Bankruptcies, 
storms, diseases, wars, are charged to batter down the 
defences, and then living disciples go in by the breach 
to convert a kingdom or win a soul. Missionaries seldom 
begin the work, and providences never complete it. Each 
kind of instrument is best in its own place and time. Do 
not go forward without providential openings, lest you 
should spend your strength for nought ; and do not neglect 
providential openings, lest the lost opportunity should never 
return. 

The inanimate machinery of war, more powerful now than 
in any former generation, may suffice to break down the 
walls of the enemy's stronghold; but these engines that 
pioneer so powerfully cannot capture the fortress; loyal, 
living men must enter and take possession in their sovereign s 
name. This order is adopted in the Christian warfare. 
Wherever the strife of men or the judgment of God has 
made an opening, good soldiers of J esus Christ spring in and 
take possession for their Lord. 

Thus, when war and treaties opened China, the Christian 
Church leaped in. Within those mysterious barriers Christ 
is now, by his chosen instruments, closing in a decisive 
struggle with the strong man who for ages has kept his 
house there in peace. By the rents which the earthquake 
insurrection has left in the framework of Indian society, our 



The Lord reigneth. 



223 



missionaries may, perhaps, get deeper into the nation's life 
than heretofore. In Italy, too, after the thunder and the 
lightning had done their terrible work, Christians lying on 
the watch were ready to enter with the still, small word. 
Already the Man of Sin has been compelled to slacken his 
grasp, and the land is free. Chosen vessels full of Christ 
may bear their treasure now through the broken barriers, 
and pour it out in Italy — pour it out in Rome, the same 
unchanged treasure that Paul bore long ago to the same 
place. A long barren night has passed over Italy, but the 
Word of God liveth and abideth for ever. By the very fact 
of making openings, God is beckoning for instruments to 
bring it in. 

But the same order prevails and the same laws rule in the 
minutest scale of individual life. It is not only China, or 
India, or Italy, that is long closed against Christ, and at last 
opened by commotions within or assaults from without. 
This neighbour who has lived long without God in the 
world, and fenced himself all round against the inroad of 
serious thoughts, has been shaken as if by an earthquake. 
It may be the insolvency of a bank, or the death of a 
brother ; it may be the encroachment of disease in his own 
frame, or the spiritual awakening of sinners near him: it 
may be any one of these, or of other similar shakings, that 
makes a breach in the defences, and leaves an opening right 
through into the soul. Now is the time for those finer 
instruments which Jesus loves to use. Vessels who bear 
Christ's name, bear it in at that opening now. Do not stand 
and say, We are not great vessels. Little vessels will go 
more easily in, and little vessels, full of Christ, will do the 
work there as well as great ones. 

Has Christ visited you, brother, and freely taken all your 
sin away ? It shows, you think, that you had need of the 



224 The Church in the House. 

Lord. Yea ; but it shows also another thing — that the Lord 
has need of you. 

The apostle Paul occupies a large place in the Bible, in 
the Church, in history, in heaven. No mere man, before 
or since, has rilled so great a space in the scheme of Pro- 
vidence, or left his mark so wide and deep upon the world. 
The gospel is the greatest power that has ever operated on 
earth, and Paul was its greatest minister. 

Considering the tendency to hero-worship, which seems 
inherent in our fallen nature, there was great danger lest he 
who stood so far above his fellows should be mistaken for a 
god. This danger was foreseen and averted in the election 
and calling of Paul. He who conceived the plan and 
executed it, hath done all things well. The worshippers of 
that saint will be put to shame when the Scriptures reveal 
the hole of the pit whence sovereign mercy dug their idol. 
The history of Saul's conversion proclaims more clearly, 
more loudly, than an angel's voice, " See thou do it not." 

This most learned doctor of the schools, the Pharisee who 
scrupulously tithed his mint, and devoutly buckled on his 
broad phylacteries, was the life and soul of the infuriated 
gang who shed the blood of Christ's earliest martyr. The 
mob executioners got their signal in the glance of his cruel 
eye. He satiated his own sectarian pride by the murder of 
the good, and crowned his wickedness by offering the bloody 
deed as a service done to God. To make an idol of this 
man, when by free grace he is highly exalted and greatly 
used, is either impossible or inexcusable. God needed a 
man to signal the glad tidings so that they might be seen 
afar ; with this view he lifted one up from the lowest place, 
and set him on the highest. Thus Divine mercy found free 
scope, and human pride was effectually excluded. Job, 
though free from idolatry in fact, confessed that " the moon 



Saul's First Experiences as a Christian. 225 

walking in brightness" tempted him to kiss his hand in 
token of reverence, as if the creature were Divine. But if 
he had known that moon at first, a mass of impurity lying 
on the earth and polluting it, and seen it then by God's 
hand lifted up, and lighted, and balanced in the sky, he 
would not have experienced any tendency to worship the 
once filthy and still feeble thing. All the homage of his 
heart would have risen spontaneously to the living and true 
God, who made that lesser light, and hung it in the heaven 
for the use of men. It is thus that we are kept from unduly 
reverencing the apostle Paul, although, under the Sun of 
Eighteousness, he is the largest light of our spiritual firma- 
ment ; for in our sight he was, by mere mercy, lifted from 
the mire of guilt, and fixed the loftiest and brightest of that 
cloud of witnesses who receive and reflect the " Light of the 
world." 



XLVI. 

SAUL'S FIRST EXPERIENCES AS A CHRISTIAN. 

" But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt 
at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days 
were fulfilled, the Jews took council to kill him," etc. — Acts ix. 22-31. 

" nnHEN was Saul certain days with the disciples which 
JL were at Damascus." After the great change, he did 
not immediately go either to Jerusalem or to Tarsus, his 
home. He was not yet ready to begin his mission to the 
Gentiles. He was, as yet, a novice ; and in his own ex- 
perience he first learned the rule which he afterwards pre- 
scribed, to " lay hands suddenly on no man " for ordination 
to the public ministry of the gospel. 

p 



226 



The Church in the House. 



" Straightway," however, it is added, " he preached Christ 
in the synagogues " of the city where he happened to reside. 
As one who had received mercy, he instantly began to make 
it known ; but this is not yet the exercise of his apostolic 
office. It is the witnessing of a convert, on the method 
practised by David the king. I should not expect much 
from a missionary or a minister after he had completed his 
preparation and been ordained to his office, if he had not in 
the course of his preparation sought and found opportunities 
of bearing witness for Christ. 

The old proverb, " Is Saul also among the prophets ?" was 
revived with a new meaning and greater power. " All that 
heard it were amazed," and well they might. No such 
contrast had ever occurred in the memory of the people — no 
such contrast has ever been presented in the history of the 
Church. Already the conversion of Saul began to be felt as 
an evidence of Christianity. In this aspect it is a great 
study, and has been of late years presented with great variety 
of learning and skill. The more that you examine the facts, 
the more you are shut up to the conclusion that all supposi- 
tions fail except one — that Christ appeared to Saul in the 
way, and turned the heart of the king like a river of water, 
so that the whole volume of his life thenceforth flowed in a 
new channel and to an opposite sea. 

If Saul was not true, he must have been either deceived 
or a deceiver ; he must have been either a fanatic believing 
his own error, or a deep schemer, consciously cheating his 
contemporaries by an elaborate tissue of falsehoods. If you 
suppose that he was himself deceived, what fanatic ever 
exhibited the calmness, constancy, wisdom, and humility of 
this man, through a long and extremely active life, in con- 
tact with all classes of men, with mobs and with statesmen, 
and profoundly influencing all ? To believe that such a life 



Saul's First Experiences as a Christian. 227 

had no other origin and support than the whim of an 
enthusiast, is intellectually harder than to believe that it 
sprang from his meeting with the Lord. 

If, on the other hand, you suppose him a deceiver, where 
shall you find a motive ? He renounced place, and power, 
and honour. He attached himself to a small, despised, and 
persecuted sect : he suffered the loss of all things that he 
might win Christ for himself, and preach him to others. 
This supposition is contrary to nature — contrary to universal 
law. The conversion, and life, and ministry of Paul con- 
stitute a strong pillar, raised by the hand of the King in the 
mid-stream of human life, that mightily helps to make fast 
a disciple's faith, when the currents of time threaten to carry 
it away. He hath done all things well. " Bless the Lord, 
0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits !" 

From the simplest testimony of the new-born to the fact 
of his regeneration, the word of the convert increased in 
power until it silenced all his adversaries. " Saul increased 
the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt 
at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." But the 
unbelieving Jews, true to their character, raised a persecu- 
tion against him. They could not, indeed, withstand this 
witness in argument ; but they could kill him. Already he 
began to suffer what he had formerly inflicted. He saw 
clearly that this would be his experience to the end of his 
course, yet he never wavered. He had counted the cost. 

Somewhere in the interval between his conversion and 
his final escape from Damascus the sojourn in Arabia pro- 
bably took place (Gal. i. 1 7). Arabia, like Asia, is a very 
indefinite term in ancient geography. It indicates sometimes 
a larger and sometimes a smaller district of the same region. 
"Whether Paul retired to the desert which lay close by 
Damascus, or went into the region of which Petraea was the 



228 



The Church in the House. 



capital, or penetrated into the Sinaitic peninsula, we cannot 
ascertain. 

Nor are we informed of his occupation there. Probably 
he did not go thither to preach, like Philip, even to a single 
seeking soul. The object more probably was retirement, 
with such inner exercise of spirit as might qualify him 
better for his subsequent work. Here he was physically as 
well as spiritually in the track of Moses, and in the track of 
a greater than Moses. There seems to be some mysterious 
necessity that one who is commissioned to lead a great 
exodus, should be trained beforehand in a solitude. 

The length of this sojourn in Arabia is also left uncertain. 
His residence in the city immediately after his conversion, 
the sojourn in the wilderness, and his subsequent abode in 
Damascus occupied three years in all. The Jewish authorities 
had time to recover from their consternation, and now they 
took courage to resume the offensive. They took counsel 
to kill him ; but he found the means of escape, and returned 
to Jerusalem. 

At Jerusalem, Saul sought the society of the disciples of 
Jesus ; but they feared a plot, and kept out of his way. No 
wonder that they feared him. The flock had suffered by the 
wolf, and they could not easily believe that the creature's 
nature had been completely changed. Here Barnabas appears 
in his proper character as a son of consolation. Knowing the 
history of the case, he took the convert under his protection 
and obtained for him a welcome into the bosom of the Church. 
Again the convert preached with power, and again the power 
of his preaching excited the enmity of the Jews. When his 
life was a second time exposed to danger the brethren with- 
drew him to the sea-coast at Csesarea, and thence sent him 
to Tarsus that he might be beyond the reach of his per- 
severing persecutors. 



Saul's First Experiences as a Christian. 229 



Then had the Churches rest. At first they were troubled 
by Saul persecuting, and next they were troubled by Saul 
being persecuted ; but now that the greatest enemy had been 
subdued, and the most obnoxious Christian sent into Asia, 
there was a lull in the storm, and the Christians obtained an 
opportunity of consolidating their infant society. They used 
their opportunity well ; for " they were edified, and walking 
in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, 
were multiplied." When they obtained relief from external 
persecution, they became spiritually prosperous. They grew 
in numbers and in grace. We are accustomed to think that 
a time of suffering is the most likely to be a time of reviving, 
either in the private experience of a Christian, or the public 
experience of the Church. This may be true in point of fact ; 
but it would be a great mistake to suppose that a state of 
suffering is in its own nature better fitted to edify the body 
of Christ than a state of peace. Severe trouble tends to crush 
the spirit ; and when deliverance comes, there is liberty if 
there be a will to run in the way of the Lord's command- 
ments. The time of health and prosperity is a better time 
for growth in grace than a time of adversity, if it were 
rightly improved. Nothing nore distinctly marks the spirit 
of adoption than to cleave closely to the Lord in the height 
of health : it is the sign of a carnal mind to occupy itself 
with the earth till a time of sickness, and then begin to cry, 
Lord, Lord, open to us. 

Nothing is said here about the profession of those primitive 
Christians : the only thing mentioned is their walk ; and it is 
described by two features. They walked " in the fear of the 
Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." Both sides are 
given. All solid things have two sides. The engine and 
train cannot run on one rail ; a man cannot walk on one 
foot ; two are required to balance each other. The new life 



230 The Chiwch in the House. 

must also be sustained on two that are in some sense opposite 
to each other. Such was the Christian experience that issued 
from the empty grave of Jesus ; " they departed from the 
sepulchre with fear and great joy." Such precisely was the 
life of the disciples in J udea when they obtained a breathing 
time after persecution. " This child is set for the fall and the 
rising again of many in Israel." They were bowed down, and 
then raised up. Their hearts were first broken, and then 
healed. They feared greatly before the Lord because of sin, 
and then the Holy Ghost comforted them by showing them 
the things of Christ. 

We have now passed in review the first section of Saul's 
new life. In that man's history the law of the Lord, that 
there are diversities of operation, was most conspicuously 
exhibited. The choice and call of the twelve did not com- 
plete the Saviour's scheme for the beginning of the gospel. 
For the purpose of introducing his kingdom to the Jews he 
adopted one method ; for the purpose of spreading it among 
the nations he adopted another. 

In this respect especially did the call of Saul differ from 
that of the twelve, that he was a man of learning, and they 
were not. The Lord had need at one time of the simplicity 
and even the ignorance of the apostles, that the excellency 
of the power might be seen to be of God ; at another time he 
had need of all the culture that the age possessed, that Greek 
might meet Greek on equal terms in the conflict. 

Tor other purposes Saul had laboured in the fires at Tarsus 
and at Jerusalem to acquire all the learning of the schools. 
For purposes of his own ambition and sectarian zeal he had 
amassed the treasures ; but as soon as he had acquired his 
wealth, the Mighty One met and subdued him, and employed 
his wealth in building up what he had intended to destroy. 
The Egyptians had accumulated great riches, which they 



Dorcas. 



231 



intended to employ in grinding the Israel of God ; but Israel 
went out free, and spoiled the Egyptians in the outgoing. 

Thus had Saul collected his treasures, that he might use 
them in wasting the Church of Christ ; but he and his pos- 
sessions were taken and pressed into the service of the new 
King. Again were the treasures of Egypt rifled to enrich 
the sanctuary of God. 

In this extraordinary way was an educated ministry in the 
first instance obtained ; but afterwards the supply was pro- 
vided by direct human means. Only once did Israel obtain 
a supply by spoiling Egypt; afterwards, when they were 
settled in Canaan, they obtained their wealth in a normal 
way, — by merchandise, or agriculture, or mining in the moun- 
tains. It is thus that resources wrested from the enemy 
enriched the ministry at the outset of the gospel ; but for 
ordinary times we must ply ordinary methods. We have no 
right to expect a qualified ministry without our own far- 
seeing and painstaking effort. Hence the Churches, although 
they know that the Head sent Paul, as it were, a gift from 
heaven, are content to train up their ministers as Timothy 
was trained, first at the feet of godly parents, and then under 
the instruction of more experienced teachers. 



XL VII. 
DORCAS. 

" Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which hy interpretation 
is called Dorcas : this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she 
did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died : whom when 
they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber," etc. — Acts ix. 36-42. 

AT this point Saul disappears for a time from the horizon 
of our history. He is left unnoticed in his native 
city, and Peter reappears upon the scene. In those days he 



232 The Church in the House. 

seems to have found a most appropriate field for the exercise 
of his energy in making tours of inspection throughout all 
J udsea. Here is the true work of a primitive bishop. How 
welcome would the venerable form of the aged apostle be in 
each of the small Christian communities scattered through 
the towns and villages of the land. Lydda was a small vil- 
lage westward from Jerusalem, and not far from the shore of 
the Mediterranean. In that place Peter performed a miracle 
of healing. The mighty work was first and last employed 
in the service of the gospel. The formula employed was, 
" Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." These men now were 
full of the Holy Ghost, and so had power to be witnesses to 
their Lord. The result corresponded with the design : the 
miracle was effectual in winning souls. All that dwelt in 
Lydda and Saron saw the restored paralytic, " and turned to 
the Lord." 

In the neighbouring sea-port of Joppa another miracle 
was performed, greater in itself, and more interesting in its 
circumstances. This work accordingly is more fully detailed. 
A disciple, named Dorcas, who had endeared herself by her 
skilful benevolence to the whole community, grew sick, and 
died. The sorrowing neighbours thereupon sent express to 
Lydda for Peter, and Peter came at their call. It pleased 
the Lord, through means of Peter, to restore the dead to life. 
The fact became known to all the citizens, and "many 
believed in the Lord." 

The character and special work of Dorcas are full of 
interest and instruction for us. She was probably un- 
married, for nothing is said of husband or of widowhood. 
She probably lived alone, for nothing is said of father or 
mother, sister or brother. She seems to have been one of 
those "honourable women/' of whom not a few have arisen 
in every country and every age, who, having no family to 



Dorcas. 



233 



care for, adopt the poor as their children, and in this form 
devote their time, and skill, and resources to the service of 
the Lord. 

She was not a nun. In order to devote a life to the 
service of the poor, it is not necessary to renounce, by an 
irrevocable vow, the privileges, joys, and duties of family 
life. The relations and affections of nature are God's 
workmanship, and do not necessarily hinder any good 
work. 

Dorcas was a disciple full of good works. One phrase 
indicates the well-spring, and the other indicates the refresh- 
ing stream that overflows. She was a " disciple " — behold 
the root ! She was " full of good works " — behold the fruit- 
bearing branches ! God hath joined these two ; men should 
never and nowhere put them asunder. The one is faith, and 
the other good works. These two are beautiful in unity ; 
but either wanting its mate " is dead, being alone." 

People who have a smattering of religious knowledge, but 
have not been taught of the Spirit, fall alternately into two 
opposite errors in regard to the place and worth of good works 
in the Christian system. In the first instance the crude con- 
ception of self-righteousness springs up : Let me crowd in 
as many good deeds as I can, in order that I may thereby 
make my peace with God, and have a good case against the 
great day. But when this man hears the gospel, and especially 
the doctrine of justification by faith alone, he begins to think 
that in this way of salvation there is no place left for a good 
life — that the gospel is jealous, not zealous of good works. 

When the work of the Spirit advances another step in his 
heart, when he is convinced of sin, and brought to the blood 
of Christ for pardon, this man gets a new view-point, and 
consequently a different view. Good works, as a justifying 
righteousness, he not only does not value, but loathes as 



234 



The Church in the House. 



filthy rags ; yet, as fruit to his Eedeemer's glory, he lives 
and labours in them all his days. 

Such was the place of works both in the profession and 
the practice of this honourable woman. The branch was 
full of grapes, sweet and ripe and beautiful ; but the branch 
was in the vine, and that accounts both for its beauty and 
its fertility. 

When she was raised to life, they gave her back to the 
saints and widows. She was their property, and their pro- 
perty was restored. Such a working Christian belongs to 
the neighbourhood, and is their richest treasure. The work 
of Dorcas was personal. This is the most precious kind of 
benevolence, both to the giver and receiver. She knew each 
widow whom she clothed, each child whom she fed. Pos- 
sibly she had not much money to bestow ; but she contri- 
buted visits of sympathy, looks of love, and works of skill. 
There is no coin more welcome in the treasury of the Lord. 

The coats and garments made by her hands, and exhibited 
by the poor after her death, were monuments to her memory. 
Perishable monuments, you may think. Think of an inscrip - 
tion to commemorate a great life sewed with thread in 
garments for the poor ! — written, not in brass or stone, but 
on the smooth sea-sand, ready to be blotted out by to- 
morrow's tide ! Nay, but this woman's eulogy has, in point 
of fact, been more securely preserved and more widely 
published than the victories of Eome or the art of Greece. 
All generations read her praises, and call her blessed. She 
has been greatly honoured. In one point she has been 
made like the Lord, she has left us an example that we 
should follow her steps. Many are treading in her track 
to-day ; and the world is greener for us because of the foot- 
steps that she left imprinted on its sand. 

Some monuments, such as that of Sir Walter Scott at 



Dorcas. 



235 



Edinburgh, when they have obtained a high place in the 
judgment of educated men, are reduplicated in pictures, and 
spread in many specimens throughout the civilised world. 
The one original monument raised to Dorcas in the sacred 
record has in like manner been many times copied. Societies 
which are constituted for continuing her work frequently 
adopt her name : and thus she lives to-day in the world. 
Being dead, she yet speaketh through the manifold energies 
of Christian women in all the Christianised countries of the 
world. 

This kind of charity was new in the world when Dorcas 
began at Lydda to make with her own hands garments for 
the poor of the neighbourhood. The seed of that kind came 
from a far country, even an heavenly. It was dropped from 
the lips of J esus on the furrows of some tender hearts, and 
it has propagated itself from generation to generation. The 
Lord will doubtless find some fields of it growing ripe at his 
second coming. 

Christian love is generic ; it sends out many subordinate 
species, all partaking of the same essential nature, and each 
exhibiting particular features peculiar to itself. The species 
which Peter found flourishing at Lydda is not unfrequent in 
our own day and land. Where it is genuine it is as beauti- 
ful as the violet growing under the hedge ; and like it, fills 
the air with fragrance. Female love, working outward 
through female hands in making garments to clothe the 
naked, is a well-known and comely form of Christian bene- 
volence. Behold, it is very good. It is Scriptural, useful, 
safe. It is twice blessed — blessing those that give and those 
who receive. 

The resources at our disposal are much greater than those 
which belonged to the primitive Christians. There is a 
greater number of loving hearts, and there is greater power 



236 



The Church in the House, 



in the operator's hands. Cotton, the spinning-jenny, the 
power-loom, the sewing-machine — who shall calculate how 
many times these modern discoveries have multiplied love's 
power of doing good wherever there is a real living love ? 
Besides all these, we have more money in our hands, easier 
means of transit, and greater facilities for combination. The 
earth produces more, and the powers of nature perform 
for us all the harder portions of the labour. One Dorcas in 
our city to-day could do more with her own hands than five 
in Lydda in the time of Peter. 

Yet with all these advantages we have not overtaken the 
destitution. In some quarters it is increasing on our hands. 
Widows and orphans are in want within sound of our 
Sabbath-bells. 

The state of the poor around us should put us to shame — 
should hush our manifold divisions and disputes, and bring 
us into one that we might be stronger for the Lord's work 
in the world. 

I could point to scenes of horrid cruelty which would 
make the blood stand still in your veins if you saw them ; 
and yet they are at our own doors. Children in our cities 
are starved and killed by slow degrees for want of food and 
clothing. Why should this be while there are so many 
really benevolent hearts and so great resources at the dis- 
posal of the community ? 

There is a deeper thing than the hunger and nakedness 
of the children. There is a root which bears these bitter 
fruits. It is the drunkenness of the parents. This is the 
gulf which we are unable to fill. There it yawns, as repre- 
sented by public-houses and pawn-shops, between the warm 
hearts of Christians and the starving children. There it 
yawns — a bottomless pit. You may throw into it all the 
wealth of the kingdom : the mighty contribution will sink 



Dorcas. 



237 



out of sight in the quagmire, and you will be as far from the 
naked children as before. 

Dorcas sits at home with a burning heart, for she has 
seen ragged, barefooted children on the street in the winter's 
cold. She sits and sews. Stitch, stitch, stitch ; love makes 
the needle go until the garment is completed. With light 
feet she trips down on the morrow to the place where the 
naked child dwells. She clothes it, and departs. Next day 
she will visit her charge and see how it fares. The child is 
naked again ; the mother is drunk, and the house is cold. 
The garment that Dorcas made lies on the shelf of the pawn- 
shop, and the money in the till of the nearest public-house. 
Thus the mill goes round — the mill that grinds little chil- 
dren to feed the real giants, more terrible than all the 
pictured monsters that terrified the nursery. 

This process is conducted on a great scale, crushing the 
little ones into premature graves. If the geologists of a 
future era should dig into the strata of our cemeteries, they 
will be amazed to find so large a proportion of the remains 
to be infants' bones. They will judge it contrary to nature. 
What can be the cause of the phenomenon ? If the history 
of our time shall then be extant, they will learn from it what 
their philosophy could not tell them — that the vice of the 
parents slaughtered the children ! Yet the nation looks on 
helpless ! 

It is certain, and easily proved, that the poverty w T hich 
is true and natural, caused by providential circumstances, is 
small in quantity, and of a kind that is easily cured. We 
could relieve it and not be burdened by the effort. The 
exercise would be pleasant and healthful to the community. 
Instead of being a punishment it might be realised as the 
fulfilment of a promise, " The poor ye have always with 
you," that we might never lack an object to draw forth our 



238 The Church in the House. 

charity, and so might never miss the larger blessing — the 
blessing which belongs to those who give. But the pauper- 
ism which springs from vice is not only so great that to re- 
lieve it becomes a burden — it is of such a kind that to 
relieve it is impossible. 

There is need of two things : first, a perennial spring of 
charity in Christian hearts, finding or forcing a way into 
every home of misery in the land ; and, second, an effort by 
a united people, acting through the legislature and the 
government, to deal effectively with the material feeders of 
vice, and so abate the nuisance. 

There is some advance in public opinion at the present 
day, but, alas, great bodies move slowly, especially against 
the stream. In some of our colonies vigorous experiments 
have been made. In one of the Australian governments, for 
example, a law has been enacted under which, when a man 
or woman has been convicted of being a habitual drunkard, 
society has a claim for damages against those who supply 
the drink. Proposals pointing to a restraint of the traffic 
have been earnestly advocated in our own community, and 
formally submitted to the legislature. I cannot predict 
whether this method will be successful, or that ; but the 
attempts are most interesting to all philanthropists, as 
symptoms that society is awakening to a sense of danger, 
and beginning to cast about for remedies. It is especially 
cheering to the heart of Dorcas, as she toils to roll her 
stone up-hill, only to see it rolling down again, to observe 
that the commonwealth is bestirring itself to put some 
check on the huge machinery, driven by greed of gain, which 
revolves night and day, summer and winter, to manufacture 
a wholesale pauperism. 

Meanwhile individual disciples of Christ, whilst they are 
permitted and even bound in their capacity as citizens to 



A Light to lighten the Gentiles, 



239 



lend their influence to beneficent legislative measures, 
should not wait on the slow movements of a nation. They 
should, from love to the Lord and pity for men, put their 
own hand to the work wherever they can descry an opening. 
Dorcas enjoyed the blessed privilege of clothing the naked 
who were within her reach. It was her meat to do her 
Eedeemer's will, and her appetite was abundantly gratified. 
It is a beautiful feature of the Christian Church at the 
present day, and a symptom that the Spirit has not forsaken 
us, that " honourable women not a few ** both lay out their 
means and labour with their hands to feed the hungry and 
clothe the naked, in loving obedience to the Word of the 
Lord. 



XLYIIL 

A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GENTILES. 

" There was a certain man in Csesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band 
called the Italian band," etc. — Acts x. 

ALKEADY Christ had come, the glory of his own 
people Israel ; and now he must be set forth as a 
light also to the Gentiles. The second half of the promise 
must be fulfilled as well as the first. Shiloh has come to 
hold the sceptre in Judah ; but to him must the gathering 
of the peoples also be. It is not enough that the law of the 
new kingdom should be established in Zion ; the word of the 
kingdom must go forth from Jerusalem. The king hath 
I prepared his sacrifice, — he hath bidden his guests. All 
things are now ready ; the servants must now go out into the 
highways and the hedges, and compel the outcasts to come 



240 



The Church in the House. 



in. North, give up ; south, keep not back ; bring my sons 
from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. 

The outflow of the gospel upon the Gentile world is a 
great turning-point in the history of the primitive Church. 

That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same 
body, and partakters of his promise in Christ by the gospel, 
was not at first known to the followers of Jesus : it was 
part of the mystery of godliness specially revealed to the 
apostles after the ascension of Christ. "Other sheep I 
have," said the Master, " which are not of this fold : them 
also I must bring ; and they shall hear my voice ; and there 
shall be one flock 1 and one Shepherd" (John x. 16). This 
chapter narrates the accomplishment of the promise. Here 
we learn how the door was opened; or, rather, how the 
middle wall of partition was broken down so that hence- 
forth, there should be for the Church neither Jew nor 
Greek. 

Although individuals here and there had already been 
admitted into the fellowship of the Church, it needed yet a 
revelation to show the believing Jews that the way into the 
gospel was as open and free to the nations as to themselves. 
Those who had entered hitherto, entered first into the 
Jewish communion, and thence were introduced into the 
Christian Church. Now it is made evident that the 
Gentiles may come direct to Christ, without passing through 
Judaism on their way. God's own hand had hung up the 
separating veil to serve important purposes for a time ; but 
now, when it has fulfilled its purpose, his own hand will 
rend it. 

Peter and Cornelius are chosen as the two points at which 

1 "Not one fold, but one flock; no one exclusive enclosure of an outward 
Church, — but one flock, all knowing the one Shepherd and known of him." — 
Dean Alfokd. 



A Light to lighten the Gentiles. 241 



the two bodies shall come into contact, so that they may be 
joined in one. 

Cornelius was a favourite name among the noblest families 
of Eome. He was an officer of the Italian band. The 
body- guard of the governor was composed of native Italians. 
Levies raised in the provinces were not trusted near the 
ruler's person. This circumstance makes it sure that 
Cornelius was a Gentile. He belongs to the Eoman Empire, 
the representative at that day of the world's power. 

He was a devout man. Whether he was a proselyte of 
the gate cannot be certainly ascertained ; but, at all events, 
he was not further initiated into Judaism. He worshipped 
God, but did not conform to the Jewish ceremonial. 

He worshipped God with all his house. This is a feature 
in family life that is always mentioned in the Scriptures 
with honour. Jesus is pleased when parents bring the 
little ones and place them in his arms. Grace not only 
flows down like water, so that from the head of the house it 
reaches the youngest; it also, by a cognate law, rises up 
like vapour, so that it may find its way from a godly child 
to a worldly father. Parents, bring your house to the 
Church ; and bring the Church to your house. 

" Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial 
before God." Prayers and pains were equally yoked in the 
life of Cornelius. Body and soul together constituted the 
religion of this devout Eoman. It is not that the giving of 
: alms makes the giver just with God. It is rather that the 
gifts accompanying the prayer serve to embody his desires. 
The charity was not a dead work, for it ascended to heaven ; 
the gifts were the outgoings of an earnest but unenlightened 
soul groping after God. 

"Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon." The 
Lord puts honour on the gospel in that he sends an angel 

Q 



! 



242 The Chttrch in the House. 

from heaven to set a train in motion for conveying it to an 
anxious soul; but lie also puts honour on the human 
ministry in that he does not intrust an angel with the work. 
The angel is employed to run an errand — to call the preacher 
to the spot. The matter is so great that an angel must be 
sent in order to get it accomplished ; but the matter lies so 
exclusively between sinful man and his Divine Eedeemer 
that the angel is not further employed, after he has told 
where a minister of the gospel may be found. 

When there is a great illness in a family, a loving neigh- 
bour comes in ; but he does not presume to prescribe. He 
will run for the physician. So do angels minister to " the 
heirs of salvation." 

This arrangement is wise and good. When Paul was 
constrained in faithfulness to tell certain men of Philippi 
that they were " enemies of the cross of Christ," he told the 
stern truth " weeping." He who has himself been taken by 
free grace out of the pit, knows how to pity those who are 
left. The words that win souls run thus : — " Come with us, 
and we will do thee good/' " We have found him of whom 
Moses in the law and the prophets did speak ; is not this 
the Christ ?" " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from 
all sin." This is preaching; and therefore angels cannot 
preach. They seem to say — "We can but desire to look 
into this mystery ; send for one who has passed through it." 
Send for the man who denied his Lord, and thereafter 
melted under his look of pitying love. Send for Peter, who 
has himself been saved, and he will tell you what you must 
do to be saved. 

We know by the answer sent what the centurion's prayer 
had been. The answer is an echo of the request ; and the 
answer is to show him the way of life. 

There were many strong barriers between this man and 



A Light to lighten the Gentiles. 



243 



Christ. He was a Gentile, a Koman, a soldier, a centurion : 
each word indicates a fence within a fence to keep grace 
at bay ; but grace burst through all, and led him captive. 

Peter went to the house-top about noon to pray. The 
house-top was the place of retirement. Peter's closet was 
large and lofty. Its roof was the dome of heaven ; yet it 
served his purpose well, for it was secluded. The closet, 
in the sense of our Lord's instructions on prayer, is any 
place where you may be shut out from earth below, and 
open upwards to heaven. That is the best closet which 
does for the spirit what the house-top did for the body, — 
which veils off the earth, and leaves all heaven open above 
the suppliant. 

It is good to have associations of special communion with 
God connected with particular spots. The sight of these 
Bethels may revive sweet memories in later years. The 
tree, more hoary now, in the rural haunts of j^our youth, 
under whose shade, in the long summer twilight, you were 
wont to kneel and lift your soul to God, when the life of 
faith was young ; the avenue along which you were wont to 
walk communing with a present Saviour, when the sense of 
his presence was new ; — sweet spots ! beautiful rays of light 
from above seem still to linger over them ! This world is 
sweeter to a Christian than to other men. It contains for 
him many spots of holy ground on which he loves, even unto 
old age, to dwell; and even if some places call up sad 
memories of evil, they remind him also of his Saviour's love 
in blotting out all his sin. 

The vision of Peter marked a great crisis of the Church. 
The apostles must have experienced at this time much 
difficulty in reconciling the Lord's command, Go ye into all 
the world, with their adherence to the Mosaic ordinances, 
which they, still considered binding. On the general 



244 



The Church in the Hoiise. 



principle that you may discover in the answer sent to 
prayer what the suppliant pleaded for, we have^ood ground 
to assume that Peter, on the house-top that day, cried to 
the Lord, 0 send out thy light and thy truth, let them 
guide me on this very thing. The vision that followed 
was the opening of the gates, that the kingdom long pent- 
up in Israel might flow out upon the world. It is the 
bursting of the chrysalis, in which the life has been 
preserved indeed, but confined. The life that now issues 
forth is the same ; and yet it is so much more glorious, that 
to observers the Church of the New Testament seems a 
new creature. 



XLIX. 

SAVED BY THE WORD. 

"Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." 
Acts xi. 14. 

CONVINCED by the concurrence of the vision and the 
arrival of the ambassadors, Peter at once consented to 
go to Csesarea. When he arrived, and found that Cornelius 
had been directed by a Divine message to send for him, he 
consented to preach the gospel freely to the Gentiles, and 
to receive them into the fellowship of faith, without impos- 
ing on them any part of the Jewish ceremonial. 

When the Church at Jerusalem, which consisted of 
converted Jews, heard what Peter had done, they found 
fault. " They that were of the circumcision contended with 
him." Placed upon his defence, Peter narrated the whole 
case, and obtained from the assembled council a favourable 
judgment on his conduct. There is certainly no Popery 



Saved by the Word. 



245 



here. Yet this is subsequent to the time when the Lord had 
said to him, " Thou art Peter," etc. Either he was pope at 
this time, or he was never pope. The council placed him 
on his defence : he accepted the position, and defended 
himself. He assumed no autocratic authority. He simply 
submitted himself to the authority of his brethren. 

At the date of Peter's mission I should not venture to say 
that Cornelius needed to be saved ; but he needed to be 
taught the way of salvation. There was before this time a 
quickening by the Spirit in his heart, but as yet he knew 
not the truth with his mind. Although at that moment the 
new life was already begun in his soul, so that if he had 
been called hence ere Peter arrived he would have entered 
the mansions of the Father's house, the Word speaks of him 
as still needing to be taught how he should be saved. I 
shall adopt the same tone, and show the necessity of con- 
veying even to such a man the message of the GospeL 

Peter must go to Caesarea for the express purpose of 
telling this man how he may be saved. If his alms and 
prayers had been sufficient, there would have been no need 
of this message. They that are whole need not a physician. 

This was no common publican or sinner. Before the 
angel promised a minister, or the promised minister came 
to preach, Cornelius was a " devout man, and one that feared 
God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, 
and prayed to God alway." Here is a man who possesses 
all the qualifications of a saint, if a saint can grow in the 
soil of this earth, without a seed sent down from heaven. 
He was devout in spirit, exemplary in the training of his 
children, beneficent to the poor, and constant in his 
religious duties. Here is a model man. If any man could 
be just with God, apart from faith in Christ crucified, 
surely this is the man. A better specimen of humanity you 



246 



The Church in the House. 



can nowhere find ; yet the Word of God treats him as a 
sinner, and forthwith proceeds to tell him what he mnst do 
to be saved. There is no escape from the force of this 
case. It effectually shuts out all hope in the merit of a 
man. In presence of this word every mouth must be 
stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. If 
this man could not appear before the judgment-seat until 
his sins were blotted out in the blood of the Lamb, how 
shall we appear with our own sins or our own goodness 
marked to our account ? 

The difficulty of attaining a thorough practical conviction 
that if God should mark iniquity we could not stand, is 
greater, in some respects, where the sins are less gross. 
Open vices, although not more sinful, are more manifest than 
the rebellion that acts in the heart of a correct but carnal 
man. Hence the experience, renewed from age to age in 
history, that publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of 
heaven more readily than smooth and sombre Pharisees. A 
child or a savage realises easily and completely that yonder 
mountain which lifts its head to heaven is matter ; but can- 
not comprehend that the air which encircles and overtops 
the mountain is matter too. An educated person knows that 
air is as truly matter as the rock. It is in some such way 
that those who are childish in spiritual perception take in 
more easily the thought that vice is sin, than that the god- 
less bent of the carnal mind is sin. It needs a keener 
spiritual perception to realise that this devout and charit- 
able centurion is lost by sin, unless and until he be found 
in Christ. 

By what means shall Cornelius be saved ? By words ; 
"He shall tell thee words whereby thou shalt be saved/' 
Strange : when the loss is so deep and real, will words bring 
deliverance ? — words — articulated air. 



Saved by the Word. 



247 



It was natural for Naaman, with his hardy intelligence as 
a practised soldier, to toss his head in contempt at the pro- 
posal of a bath in Jordan as the cure of his disease. There 
is a class of scholars in our day who sneer at the proposal to 
cure sin by words, as Naaman sneered at the proposal to 
wash a leprosy away in water. They have no confidence in 
doctrines that come into a mans mind from without ; they 
will rather trust to principles that spring up within the man. 
A salvation by words they despise. Dogma is the scorn of 
the unbelieving philosophy of the age. 

Beware of wandering into the mist here, and so losing 
your way — your life. Words become life or death when God 
employs them to express and proclaim his will. God said, 
Let there be light ; and there was light. Jesus cried with 
a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead 
obeyed. But these were the words of God, our Maker and 
Bedeemer. They were ; and on that depended all their 
power. But may he not send his word into the world still ? 
and may he not employ human lips and human ears as the 
channels through which it shall flow ? 

Even in the ordinary experience of life, men are saved or 
lost by words — the words of their fellows. An ocean-steamer 
at dead of night is rushing through the water, at the speed 
of a race-horse, bearing in its bosom a miscellaneous throng 
of men, women, and children, some asleep, some at work, 
some at play. Two words — breakers ahead — pass quietly 
but clearly from the watchman at the bow to the master on 
the gangway : two other words — starboard hard — ring out 
from the master to the man at the helm. As soon as these 
accents fall on the steersman's ear, he presses the rudder 
mightily to one side, and the ship bounds clear of the rocks, 
only leaping a little higher for a moment, in the surf that 
surrounds their roots. These words, that passed away as 



248 



The Church in the House. 



breath on the breeze, saved five hundred warm human beings 
from a cold bed that night in the bottom of the sea. 

The world with its teeming freight of humanity is rushing 
on like that ship through the sea of time. Mankind, like 
the globe on which they cluster, are, as regards their own 
sensations, still and stationary; but in the unseen, unfelt 
reality, sweeping forward like smoke on the wind. All are 
in motion always. A lost world will one day strike, and 
sink and die. God, who is rich in mercy, did not leave the 
world to its fate. He sent his Word, and saved it. 

Truth, like a spirit, is invisible until it put a body on : 
and words are the body in which truth incarnates itself, in 
order that it may be known and felt. They may be spoken 
by human lips, or exhibited on a printed page, or sent along 
a wire in throbs of electric light — it matters not what form 
the words may assume, as it matters not what may be the 
colour of the ink in which the letters are written ; in every 
form they are the body in which a spirit dwells. Evil spirits 
also become incarnate in a body of words. The wicked one 
embodies himself in words whereby men may be destroyed. 
The whole Word of God is the body which the Holy Spirit 
animates for his quickening and sanctifying work. Take 
heed how ye hear : the missing of a word may be the loss 
of a soul. 



L. 

THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE. 

" Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." 
Acts xi. 14. 

GOD'S hand in providence is always busy, bringing the 
saving word to bear on the lost that they may be 
saved. Ordinarily, the process is conducted behind the 



Thou and all thy House. 249 



scenes, in secret ; but now and then, as in the cases of Moses 
and Cornelius, the curtain is drawn aside and the whole 
machinery exposed to view, that we may learn the method 
of the Divine government. The centurion is dwelling quietly 
in his own house at Csesarea; he is training his children and 
servants in the right way as far as he knew it : he is rinding 
out every frail widow and every helpless orphan in the 
neighbourhood, supplying the necessary food and clothing 
from his own stores as long as they lasted, and begging from 
his friends when they were done. Feeling his own need 
meantime he is crying unto God for help. God in heaven 
hears the cry, and determines to answer it ; but a compli- 
cated machinery must be set in motion ere the water of life 
reach this thirsting soul. The method is not in this case a 
whit more complicated than that which is adopted in the 
daily course of the Divine administration. This case is un- 
covered as an illustrative specimen ; all the rest are of the 
same character although they are concealed from view; 
messages from heaven are sent both to Peter and to Cornelius; 
and when speaker and hearer have been separately prepared, 
they are brought together. They meet ; and at the point of 
contact the water of life flows from the charged into the 
empty vessel. The word of salvation, already through grace 
dwelling richly in the Lord's apostle, overflowed into the 
open and prepared heart of the Eoman centurion. By that 
word the man was saved. 

In the Garden of Plants at Paris, a certain rare tree grew 
for many years. It was a thriving, mature plant. Year by 
year it was covered with blossom, and year by year the 
blossom was shed on the ground, leaving no fruit behind. 
After every promise, it remained barren still. At last one 
season, although nothing extraordinary had been observed, 
after the flower came fruit. The fruit swelled apace, and in 



250 The Church in the House. 

due time ripened. The tree for the first time formed and 
brought to maturity self -propagating fruit. They sought 
and found the cause. Another tree of the same species, but 
bearing flowers the counterpart and complement of this one, 
had that season for the first time blossomed in a garden at 
some distance. The small white dust from the flowers of 
that other tree, necessary to make the flowers of this tree 
fruitful, had been borne on the feet of bees, or wafted by the 
wind into their bosom, and forthwith they bore fruit. This, 
in the natural department, is the work of that same all- wise 
God who prepared the heart of Cornelius for receiving Peter's 
word, and brought Peter with the word to Cornelius. In 
both departments He is wonderful in counsel and excellent 
in working. The devout Eoman centurion was a goodly tree, 
spreading its leaves and opening its blossoms to the sun 
year by year on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, very 
hopeful, and very promising, but bare and desolate, until 
words, as if wafted on the wind, came from J oppa by the 
ministry of an apostle and fell upon the open, receptive, 
thirsting soul. Life sprang from that union. 

You have passed ten or twenty or fifty years in this life. 
If you have passed over from death unto life, it is well. 
Hold the beginning of your confidence steadfast unto the end. 
But if not, think how much has been done to spare your life 
and your reason ; how much has been done to bring message 
after message to you. Be on the watch, lie open ; at a time 
when you think not the hour may come, and the man, and 
the word— the word whereby you may be saved. The word 
may come to you at a moment when you are open for the 
word, as accidentally and yet as definitely determined and 
designed as the dust which makes the flower fruitful is 
brought on the feet of unconscious insects, or wafted on the 
bosom of the wind. But if your heart be closed and cold, 



Thou and all thy House. 



when the word of life comes, you will be left in your sins. 
Beware lest you miss the word which is sent to quicken you. 

Machinery boxed-in goes round and accomplishes its work 
as well as if it were all exposed to view. At one extremity 
the raw material goes in, and at another the manufactured 
article comes out. This is all that the visitor sees. For 
once, and to instruct a stranger, the master may take the 
covering off, and lay bare the intricate system of cylinders 
and wheels ; but soon he shuts the door again. Under cover 
all the work goes on as steadily as when the observer's eye 
was watching it. Thus has the author of salvation, in the 
case of Cornelius and some others, opened up the processes 
of his providence, which are usually conducted in secret ; 
but to-day, and here, he as truly works, and as wonderfully, 
in preparing hearts for receiving the seed of the word, and 
bringing vessels charged with seed to the right place at the 
right time. By the ministry, it may be, of angels unseen, or 
I by the ministry of naming fire and stormy winds unsuspected, 
or by the ministry of men whom I have not yet met, the 
word of salvation is coming to me. All things are now 
ready ; be thou ready also, 0 my soul. 

The words which Peter brought to Cornelius were intended 
and offered for the saving not of himself only, but also of all 
his house. The prayer of the centurion is not recorded. It 
is written that he prayed, but his prayer is not written. We 
have, however, the means of knowing what was in his prayer. 
As you may thoroughly know a man's countenance by seeing 
it reflected in a mirror, although at the moment a partition 
wall stands between him and you, so, from the answer which 
a suppliant receives, you may learn what he asked. The 
message sent to Cornelius in answer to his prayer tells him 
how both he and his house may be saved ; therefore we know 
he had asked salvation for his family as well as for himself. 



252 



The Church in the House. 



Wife, children, domestics, and the soldiers who waited upon 
him continually, bulked largely in the supplication of that 
earnest striver into the kingdom. He prayed in secret, and 
therefore we know not in the first instance what he put into 
his prayer ; but God rewarded him openly, and by learning 
what he received, we learn what he asked. 

If I am told in general terms of a mother that she has gone 
to the studio of a photographic artist to obtain a portrait of 
herself; and if the question afterwards arises, Did she sit 
alone, or did she group the children round her feet, and hold 
the infant on her knee ? I do not know, for I was not there ; 
but show me the glass which the artist has just taken out 
from a vessel of liquid in a dark room, and is holding up to 
the light. What figures are these that are gradually forming 
upon its surface, like hoar-frost on the window on a wintry 
day ? In that glass, dimly at first, like a thought springing 
in the soul, but anon with greater distinctness, like articulated 
language on the lips, rises the outline of that matron's form ; 
and see, the forms of the children come gradually in, variously 
grouped around her, and the infant sleeping in her lap. Ah, 
I know now, though I was not present at the operation, that 
this mother sat not alone when the sun in the heavens 
painted her picture in that glass. 

Thus, by observing the group that cluster round Cornelius 
in the answer to his prayer, I learn who were crowding 
round his heart and rising to his lips, when he pressed his 
own need before the throne of grace. 

We pray in secret ; it is a privilege. We enter our closet 
and shut the door, as the Lord commanded — permitted us 
to do when we pray to our Father. No one knows our 
thoughts and words; none knows except the Hearer of 
prayer, who feels our longings pressing on the mercy-seat. 
But suppose our prayers — all their thoughts — were somehow 



Thou and all thy House. 



impressed on a prepared plate, to start out in full outline, 
and be shown to our neighbours ; what then ? Then shame 
only to the Pharisees ; but as many true wrestlings would 
be seen as might win a whole world to the Lord. It was 
this thought that was in Paul's mind when he said, " Would 
that ye knew what great conflict I have for you." 

1. Parents and masters ! God has placed the young under 
your charge, that you may bring them to him in prayer, and 
by instruction bring him to them. Nature's affections are 
at once soft and strong to draw them by. Are there ten in 
your house, yourself and nine besides, all leprous by a birth 
in sin ? You, conscious of your disease, come to Jesus for 
healing, but if you come alone, he will miss the rest. He is 
still the same, and he will certainly complain. His com- 
plaint will be, Were there not ten souls in that house ; and 
where are the nine ? 

If you bring them, as Cornelius did, to the Lord in prayer, 
you will also like him bring them to the word and ordinances 
of God when an opportunity is offered. Cornelius was able 
to say, before Peter began to preach, We are all here before 
God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. 

2. The children. — The word that is sent to the father and 
mother of a family, is a word that saves the children, and 
servants too, if they receive it. The parents who receive 
the word cannot save the children. For the natural life the 
children must get and take sustenance for themselves. The 
bread that their parents eat will not preserve the children 
alive. So the life of parents, when it is hid with Christ in 
God, will not carry the children into heaven. I am the vine, 
ye are the branches. Ev^ery branch in me, etc. 

Cling with all your strength, not to your godly father, but 
to your father's God. 



254 



The Church in the House. 



LI. 



PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 



"Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about 
Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the 
word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus 
and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, 
preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them : and 
a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." — Acts XI. 19-21. 

THEY speak of primitive Christianity. The word is sweet. 
Wearied of manifold errors and corruptions, we listen 
gladly to its sound. We would fain possess the thing which 
the word signifies. But, alas ! those who are most ready to 
adopt the name are the most ready to abuse it. They write 
Primitive Christianity on their banner, and boldly set out 
in search of it ; but they halt before they reach the object. 
They lose their way in the Dark Ages, and never emerge 
into the Scriptual light that shines beyond. It is here, in 
the Acts of the Apostles, that real primitive Christianity is 
to be found. 

Three things appear at this point in the history — three 
things connected like links in a chain : — 1. The ministry of 
men ; 2. The hand of the Lord ; 3. The fruit that followed. 

1. The ministry of men. Some disciples belonging to 
Cyprus and Cyrene, scattered by the persecution, travelled 
as far as Antioch, and addressed themselves to the Gentiles of 
the Eastern capital, " preaching the Lord Jesus." The mis- 
sionaries are not named. They kept back their own names,, 
and put forward that of their Lord. They have left no 
record of themselves on earth ; but they have as their record 
on high a great multitude brought by their ministry to the 
Saviour. The persecution that culminated in the martyrdom 
of Stephen was intended by the Adversary to crush the 




Primitive Christianity \ 255 

infant Church ; but it became the blast which spread the 
living seed over all the regions of the East. 

Being themselves Jews, though born in foreign countries, 
they in the first instance preached to the Jews only ; but 
they were soon led over the barrier, and entered a wider 
field. By special interposition from heaven the first opening 
was made, when Peter preached to Cornelius at Csesarea. 
The crevasse widened rapidly ; and in a very short time the 
gospel, hitherto pent up within the limits of Israel, flowed 
out without impediment on the nations. True to its own 
nature, it refused to be confined. According to the Word of 
the Lord, it began indeed in Jerusalem ; but true also to 
another part of the same Word, it speedily spread to the 
ends of the earth. 

There is great precision in the history here. There is a 
Divine perspicuity in the statements, that presents a striking 
contrast with the crowd of dim inconsistencies that sprang 
up in succeeding ages. The theme of these primitive 
preachers was "the Lord Jesus." The Christianity of the 
apostolic age is distinguished by this, that it everywhere 
presents a personal Saviour to a disciple's faith. The wisdom 
of God is here. Man's Maker knows man's need. He only 
can devise, and provide, and apply the remedy for the ailment 
of humanity. Doctrines, however true and Divine, cannot 
arrest and control a man. They are not suited to the case. 
They are like spirits not embodied. They do not get hold 
of us; we do not get hold of them. When the soul of 
doctrine is incarnate in a person, we can comprehend and 
apprehend it. When that person is recognised to be the 
Lord J esus — God with us — faith looks to him and lives. 

This is primitive preaching : it is to tell the story of Jesus, 
and tell it until hearts of stone give way and flow down like 
water. Tell of our fall by sin ; tell that we have departed 



The Church in the House. 



from the living God; that a great gulf is fixed between 
the prodigal and his father. We have no power to pass over 
it, and no will to try. He came to seek and save. The 
Good Shepherd came out to seek the lost sheep. The Just 
gave himself for the unjust. The eternal Son of God gave 
himself for us — wrought a righteousness for us that we might 
not be naked at the judgment-seat, and shed his blood to 
blot out our sin. He rose from the dead, and intercedes for 
us now at the right hand of God. He waits, our way to the 
Father, and our righteousness when we approach. They 
preached to the Greeks in Antioch the Lord Jesus, and — 

2. " The hand of the Lord was with them." The instru- 
ment is all human, but the power is all Divine. We learn 
here with great simplicity and clearness these two things : — 

(1) that in conversion the hand of the Lord operates ; but 

(2) that it operates through the ministry of men. In this 
work men can do nothing without God ; but in this work 
God will do nothing without men. " How shall they hear 
without a preacher ; and how shall they preach except they 
be sent?" 

In 1 Cor. iii. 9 Paul explains of set purpose the union and 
relations of Divine and human agency in the conversion of 
men : " We are labourers together with God ; ye are God's 
husbandry." Men are taken into partnership with God in 
the work; but the terms and conditions of the union are 
clearly defined. It is not an indefinite announcement that 
some part of the work is confided to human skill. A case is 
given which determines the limits of the two departments 
with infallible precision. The union of the Divine and 
human in conversion is the same as that which takes place 
in the cultivation of the fields. The people are the field to 
be cultivated ; God and man in concert carry on the work. 
We know what man's department is in common agriculture. 



Primitive Christianity. 



257 



Besides the main, central act, the sowing of the seed, he does 
many things before and after it. He breaks up the ground, 
and makes it small ; then he watches, weeds, and drains the 
field. The God of nature does not perform for man any of 
those operations which man can do for himself. For his 
part, he gives rain, and sun, and air. Without these human 
industry would not avail ; but without human industry these 
would fail to produce fruit, Divine though they be. 

Such in the spiritual field is the co-operation which took 
place at this point in the experience of the primitive Church. 
Men do all the cultivating ; and when they have done all, 
they must wait for " the hand of the Lord " to give effect to 
their labour — must look up for the Spirit to be poured out 
as floods upon the dry ground. 

3. The result was, " a great number believed, and turned 
to the Lord." The two acts, " believing" and " turning to 
the Lord," stand here in an interesting relation to each other. 
In some cases these two expressions may have substantially 
the same meaning ; but here, where they occur in company, 
the " believing" must be the root, and the " turning" the fruit 
I which it bears. 

The root of the tree lies out of sight. The manner in 
which it lives and operates is in a great measure concealed. 
But the fruit can be both seen and tasted. By the fruits we 
know the tree. To believe is the secret act of the soul ; to 
turn to the Lord, is the visible course of a disciple's life. 

The fact that the first act of these disciples after they 
believed was a turning, shows clearly that before the gospel 
reached them they were walking in the way of sin and 
death. When through the blood of the cross a reconcilia- 
tion takes place, the life-course is changed. The new creature 
in Christ now abandons all that he most fondly loved before. 
He casts away his idols, and worships the living God. The 

R 



258 



The Church in the House. 



works of the flesh are abjured, and the works of the Spirit 
appear. 

The converts were many. Like doves darkening the air 
by their multitude, they flocked to the name of the Lord as 
their refuge. In such a revival the Lord sees of the travail 
of his soul, and is satisfied. 

It is a common and a true observation regarding that sort 
of gain which the Scriptures denominate " filthy lucre," that 
those who obtain much, instead of being satisfied, rather 
thirst more eagerly for more. The gain obtained in winning 
souls is in this single aspect like its carnal namesake, as an 
angel of light may be in some sense like an angel of dark- 
ness. It is true of those who win souls — both of the Head 
and his members — that the more of this gain they get, the 
more they desire to obtain. 



LIL 

THE GRACE THAT BARNABAS SAW. 

"When (Barnabas) eame and had seen the grace of God."— Acts xi. 23. 

SCATTERED abroad by the persecution, the disciples of 
Jesus preached him in Antioch, the great Eastern 
capital of the empire. Here a wide field lay before the 
labourers. They cultivated it diligently, and soon were 
cheered by a harvest waving like Lebanon. Great numbers 
were converted, both Jews and Greeks. 

This thing was not done in a corner. The rumour quickly 
spread. Friends and foes alike published the tidings. The 
world, at one of its great central marts, was turned upside 
down by these Galilean preachers. In such a case those 



The Grace that Barnabas saw. 259 



who love the change and those who loathe it spread the 
report with equal diligence. It soon reached the ears of 
the believers who still remained in Jerusalem. The Church 
there immediately despatched a messenger to the spot, with 
instructions to examine and report. Barnabas was chosen 
for this important mission. " He was a good man, and full 
of the Holy Ghost." He could discern between the chaff 
and the wheat. He was a man who might be trusted. He 
could observe with discrimination and report with faithful- 
ness. It were greatly to be desired that modem Synods 
should adopt the same method in similar emergencies, and 
that they had equally judicious agents at their disposal. 
The plan was good, and it was well executed. Barnabas, 
sent by the assembled Church at Jerusalem as their com- 
missioner, to examine and report upon the state of religion 
in Antioch, was the right man in the right place. 
The result is briefly recorded under three heads : — 

1. What he saw : « The grace of God." 

2. What he felt : " He was glad." 

3. What he did : " He exhorted them all" 

I. What he saw. "When he came and had seen the 
grace of God." What a man sees in any place depends in a 
great measure on what he looks for. Different persons 
observe different objects on the same spot. The taste of the 
observer goes far to determine what kind of sights he shall 
see. An architect visiting Antioch in those days would 
have seen many gorgeous edifices in the city. He would 
have found much to attract his attention in the commingling 
of Greek and Eoman styles with the indigenous Oriental 
tastes of the people. A merchant would have examined the 
wares that were exposed in the market, and speculated on 
new openings for trade. A soldier would have scanned the 
fortifications, and measured their capacity to withstand a 



260 The Church in the House. 

besieging force. In such a case a Christian too has an eye 
in his head, and a bias in his heart to turn it in a particular 
direction. 

Barnabas had an eye to business as well as other people 
when he entered the Eastern metropolis. The edifice that 
arrested his regard was a holy temple built of "living stones." 
To " win souls " was the gain he coveted. From the soldier's 
view-point too he looked upon the city, and considered how 
its teeming multitudes might be made the subjects of Christ 
the King. Barnabas came to Antioch looking for the grace 
of God, and he found it in abundance there. He saw also 
other sights — sights that made him weep. The multitude of 
that heathen city was wicked, and the wicked are like the 
troubled sea when it cannot rest. The corruption that met 
his eye on every side grieved, but did not surprise him. 
Here and there in the desolation he observed portions of that 
" new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." These were 
the spots which he came to seek, and these accordingly 
arrested and absorbed his attention. When a navigator is 
sent out on a voyage of discovery, he observes wide tracts of 
sea ; but he does not report that fact on his return. Green 
islands, great or small, protruding here and there above the 
level waters, — these are the objects for which he searched 
during the voyage, and of which he speaks when he comes 
home again. Such was the errand on which Barnabas was 
sent, and such the method that he followed. Of a sea of sin 
that was spread before his eyes at Antioch we read not a 
word. His report refers exclusively to the grace that rose 
above it. As the coral islands of the Pacific rise and bask 
in the light of heaven, flowery and fertile, while their base is 
surrounded by the barren, salt, angry waves of an unfathom- 
able ocean, so the group of Christians that clustered together 
as a Church in Antioch were rich in all the graces of the 



The Grace that Barnabas saw. 



261 



Spirit, although they had sprung from a dreary heathenism, 
and were surrounded by it still. He reports not the sin of 
men, but the grace of God. 

Barnabas had grace in himself, otherwise he would not 
have seen it in others. When the Christian doctrine first 
spread in the empire, certain Eomish philosophers, intelligent 
and impartial as matters go among men, reported to the 
government that a vile superstition was inundating the land. 
It was the truth as it is in Jesus that was so characterised. 
It was the pure gospel, as it came from the lips of the 
apostles, transfused into the hearts and lives of believing 
men. Those who called it a vile superstition did not intend 
to give a false representation. The thing that was exhibited 
before them was the very thing that Barnabas saw at Antioch. 
It appeared before them, but they did not perceive it. They 
did not see grace, because they did not possess it. Some 
persons among ourselves, not deficient in understanding and 
the power of observation, perseveringly and energetically 
represent earnest Christians as a set of loathsome, selfish 
hypocrites. They think that they are telling the truth, and 
doing good service to God and man; but they are in the 
main mistaken. Although they had entered Antioch in 
company with Barnabas, these men would not have seen the 
grace of God. They would have reported that they found 
the majority of the population living in undisguised vice, but 
that a knot of knaves might be observed in the crowd, who 
wore long faces, and spoke in snivelling tones, and were 
tenfold more detestable than other people, because they falsely 
professed to be holier. Grace — that is, God's favour bestowed 
through Christ, and accepted in faith — is a spiritual thing, 
and it is " spiritually discerned." It requires grace in one 
man to enable him to observe and own grace in another. 

But this grace — this favour freely bestowed — is nothing 



262 



The Church in the House. 



less and nothing else than free pardon of all sin, given by 
God and accepted by men. He who has obtained it is 
forgiven through the blood of Christ, and renewed by the 
Spirit. He is reconciled and at peace. The quarrel between 
his conscience and the Divine law is settled. He is in 
Christ Jesus, and therefore there is to him now no con- 
demnation. The man no longer dreads God as an offended 
King, but trusts and loves him as a Father. Now this 
grace, as it comes in the covenant from God, is an unseen 
thing. It is a secret in the soul. How then can it be seen 
by Barnabas, or by any other man ? Like other things, both 
good and bad, it is known by its fruits. Life is invisible ; 
and yet you know well where life is : you know life by the 
actions of the living. It is thus that grace in human hearts 
becomes known : it is known by its fruits in human life. 
Grace in its germ is invisible to all; but those who, like 
Barnabas, have tasted it themselves, can detect its presence 
by the fruits which it bears. 

The Christians in Antioch had abandoned idols. They 
bore the name of Christ, although it might expose them to 
persecution. They lived " soberly, righteously, and godly" 
in the world. They were patient in tribulation, and instant 
in prayer. The rich gladly helped the poor, and the poor 
industriously helped themselves. "Faith, hope, charity, 
these three," beamed in their eyes and moulded their actions. 
There was a great exhibition in the Eastern capital at this 
time, and Barnabas went down to see it. It was a noble 
palace, built of living stones, growing together into a holy 
temple. He scanned it from its foundation on the Bock of 
Ages up to the brotherly love that effloresced richly from its 
loftiest pinnacles ; and while he acknowledged a beneficent 
change in the life of those saved men, he ascribed it all to 
the goodness of God their Saviour. 



The Gladness that Barnabas experienced. 263 



LIII. 

THE GLADNESS THAT BARNABAS EXPERIENCED. 

"Who, when tie came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad." — Acts xi. 23. 

II. T)AENABAS "was glad" when lie saw the blessed 
J3 effects which the gospel had already wrought in 
Antioch. Incidentally this throws light upon the character 
of the commissioner himself. Tell me what gladdens or 
grieves a man, and I will tell you what sort of a man he is. 

The prosperity that made him glad was moral and 
spiritual, rather than material. Men of such an eye and 
such a taste are greatly needed in our modern common- 
wealths. We are carried away in a mighty tide of material 
progress ; and although moral worth is gracefully owned as 
indispensable, there is a tendency, strong and constant, to 
give it only a secondary place. The vastness of a nation's 
wealth and power will only make its fall more terrible, if it 
is rotten at the root. Physical resources, even when directed 
by cultivated intellect, do not insure the happiness or the 
safety of a people. Man has been made with a side for God 
and a side for the world : if the side that lies toward eternity 
loses its life, then, however actively the side toward time 
may perform its functions, the whole body is paralysed. 
We have railways, and telegraphs, and ships ; and these, in 
their present measure of perfection, are new acquisitions 
made by our own generation; but the gospel is a more 
precious treasure, and our ancestors possessed it in its fulness 
long ago. I rejoice in the recent attainments of my country, 
for they are good ; but I rejoice more in "the grace of God" 
that reigns in the hearts of my fellow-Christians, for it is 
better. 



264 



The Church in the House. 



The grace or virtue that made Barnabas glad was pos- 
sessed and exercised by others. There is not a finer feature 
in any man's character than the capacity and tendency to 
rejoice in a neighbour's prosperity. This is the mark of a 
true Christian, for it is a mark that belonged to the Master. 
Christ's command is, "Love one another, as I have loved 
you." Another law of the spiritual commonwealth is, " Put 
off the old man, — put on the new man" (Eph. iv. 22-24). 
When the old man is put away, his essential and character- 
istic affections go with him. Selfishness and envy are cast 
off, and a generous self -forgetting love springs up in their 
room. " Charity envieth riot." 

But the fruit in which this evangelist rejoiced not only 
grew in other hearts ; it was planted, too, by other hands. 
It is easy for a minister of the gospel, if he be a true man 
at all, to be glad when he sees his own work prospering. It 
is a lawful and a pure enjoyment. The apostle John 
experienced it : "I have no greater joy than to hear that 
my children walk in truth." It is pleasant employment for 
Paul or Apollos to come back to the garden which his own 
hands have planted or watered, and find the trees all laden 
with ripened fruit. But a deeper humility and a loftier 
faith are implied when an evangelist rejoices to see another 
man's garden prospering, while comparative barrenness 
broods over his own. Indeed, there is scarcely any weak- 
ness into which even sincere ministers of the gospel are more 
liable to fall than into that species of jealousy which con- 
sists in rejoicing less heartily over fruit which another hand 
has cultivated. In recent times a spirit of more enlarged 
charity has been poured upon the Church. True workers 
rejoice in each other's success. Of late, Christians have 
frequently been called to visit scenes of revival, and have 
learned to be glad, like Barnabas, over a more vigorous and 



The Gladness that Barnabas experienced. 265 



devoted spiritual life in some hitherto heathenish Antioch, 
than they had ever witnessed under their own inspection in 
a privileged Jerusalem. The Sovereign Lord is still teaching 
us that converting power does not reside in an arm of flesh. 
To him every knee must bow ; to him every tongue confess. 
He may, for wise purposes in his administration, employ in 
his work a feeble instrument, and lay the stronger for awhile 
aside. Some unknown, ungifted refugees may successfully 
found a Church in Antioch, while the greatest apostles seem 
to be spending their strength in vain. 

Although only the gladness of this evangelist is recorded, 
we know well that a great grief lay beside it in his heart, as 
he paced the streets of Antioch. He saw the evil as well as 
the good. The good shone more brightly in his eyes by 
contrast with conterminous evil ; and the evil seemed blacker 
because the good was beaming so near. This is a feature 
that adheres to all the delight of Christians in the present 
world. Such is our condition here that we cannot open our 
eyes to look on purity without perceiving impurity lying 
near. It is even by the dark shade of contiguous wicked- 
ness that we are able to trace the features of holiness among 
men. As a painter fills his background with darkness, 
deeper and deeper according as he desires to project his 
central figure more vividly into view, so, by the necessary 
conditions of our present state, the beauty of the new 
creature implanted by Divine grace in true disciples is 
brought more brightly out by the surrounding of sin in 
which it is set. The sadness that sat silently on the heart 
of Barnabas while he was making his inspection did not 
destroy, but rather enhanced his joy. The heaving sea of 
I wickedness that stretched on all sides as far as the eye could 
reach, made more lovely the green islands that were pro- 
jected above its surface and seemed to lie upon its breast. 



266 



The Church in the House. 



The gladness of this deputy from the Church at Jerusalem 
was not a sentimental emotion terminating in the person 
who enjoyed it. It was an active, outgoing, operative 
passion. It was a spark that lighted up a flame within the 
man ; and that flame quickly spread over surrounding 
objects. A selfish joy is an ignoble thing. The gladness 
that goes no further than the childish exclamation of the 
ancient idolaters, "Aha, I am warm!" as they sat round 
their fire, is a matter that belongs to man in common with 
the brutes. But the joy which thrills in a Christian's heart 
at the sight of "grace" in the life of men, makes its higher 
nature known by its instant, energetic action. When a true 
Christian is made glad by seeing some grace, he forthwith 
begins to labour with all his might for more. It is a well- 
known law, operating both in the temporal and the spiritual 
spheres, that while the heart is hopeless the hands also hang 
down. The desponding cannot work any deliverance. Glad 
hope that makes a man happy, makes him also useful. Had 
Barnabas seen no good in Antioch, he would probably have 
done no good there. There were many adversaries, but 
there was a door of hope. With the unerring instincts of a 
true disciple, when he gets encouragement, he both gave 
himself to the work and enlisted others. " Then departed 
Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul : and when he had 
found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to 
pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the 
Church and taught much people." 

There is no enjoyment stronger or sweeter within our 
reach in time than that which rilled the hearts of these 
evangelists at Antioch; but those who do not share their 
zeal are strangers to their joy. Those who do not keenly 
desire to see Christ's kingdom coming, experience no delight 
when it comes. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst 



The Exhortation that Barnabas gave. 267 



after righteousness, for they shall be filled. They who wait 
for the Lord, as lonely night-watchers wait for the morning, 
are sure of their reward ; for to them that look for him he 
will appear, and his coming will be like the morning. If I 
long to see the likeness of Christ in the life of my neigh- 
bours, I shall certainly be made glad one day. This desire 
is a vital seed, which will bear its fruit of joy either in earth 
or in heaven. 

The man who rejoiced in the grace of God as he saw it 
struggling through hard soil, beneath ungenial skies, in the 
young believers of Antioch, looks on brighter fields to-day. 
By this time he has asked in astonishment, with the beloved 
disciple, " Who are these that are arrayed in white clothing, 
and whence came they ?" The man who has an eye to see 
and a heart to love true believers, marred by many imper- 
fections on the earth, shall look, ere long, upon the saints 
made perfect. The eye that glistens now at the sight of 
grace, will be permitted soon to gaze on glory. 



LIV. 

THE EXHORTATION THAT BARNABAS GAVE. 

u And exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto 
the Lord. "—Acts xi. 23. 

BARNABAS was happy, but not satisfied. The taste 
which he obtained of God's goodness to the Christians 
of Antioch whetted, rather than satiated his appetite. When 
a miser, who is already rich, suddenly obtains a great ac- 
cession to his wealth, the effect of the increase is to stimulate 
his desire for more. The evangelist did not let the Christians 
of Antioch alone because he saw they were truly converted. 



268 



The Church in the House. 



Perhaps if lie had observed nothing but a grovelling earth- 
liness or a hollow hypocrisy in the infant Church there, he 
might have held his peace. His experience might have been 
like Ezekiel's : " Thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to 
them a reprover : for they are a rebellious house " (Ezek. 
iii. 26). It is comparatively easy to administer reproof to 
those who are willing to receive it. Hence " to him that 
hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance." 

This is a useful and needful example. There is much 
fickleness even in true Christians : there is much deceitful- 
ness even in a renewed heart. " Let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall." We should not assume, 
either for ourselves or others, that after conversion the time 
for warning and exhortation has passed. 

God knows our weak points better than we ourselves. 
His promises of help may serve to show us where we are 
liable to fall. One of those rich and precious promises that 
were addressed to Israel through the prophets is, " I will 
heal their backslidings." We learn what disease is wasting 
us from the physician's offer to cure it. Alas, this malady 
is still epidemic in the Church ! How difficult it is to hold 
fast even the attainments that we may have reached ! That 
same Saul whom Barnabas brought from Tarsus to be his 
coadjutor in Antioch, at a later date, and after he had 
attained a larger experience, placed on record a very full 
and specific warning against backsliding : " Wherefore we 
ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we 
have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip " (Heb. 
ii. 1). The allusion in the original points to leakage from a 
vessel. In such a case the water slips gradually and secretly 
away, and is all absorbed in the earth. Thus some who 
seemed charged to the full with grace, have gradually lost 
the spiritual mind. How shall a wooden vessel be kept 



The Exhortation that Barnabas gave. 269 

water-tight, so that the precious supply of the household 
may not ooze through its joints into the ground ? By keep- 
ing it always full of water. It is by a similar method that 
grace may be preserved in the heart of a Christian. Keep 
the vessel full, and the vessel will not leak. Comparatively 
few make shipwreck of the faith through a deliberate change 
of opinion in the direction of infidelity. Many more are 
ruined, ere they are well aware, by a secret backsliding in 
heart and life. 

He " exhorted them all f and therein he acted wisely. 
If the word of truth is rightly divided, every member of the 
Church will get his share of reproof as well as encourage- 
ment. In the Christian brotherhood there is no privileged 
class. If any one thinks that his age, or attainments, or 
office should exempt him from listening to a warning word, 
that very thing shows that he needs a warning more than 
his neighbours. 

The substance of the exhortation was that they should 
cleave to the Lord. Those who ministered in the Church 
at that time went straight to the root of the matter. There 
is no dallying here about sacramental grace, and the true 
Church, and a rightly consecrated priesthood. One thing 
in those days possessed the preacher's heart and burst from 
his lips when he addressed the assembled Christians, — 
" Cleave unto the Lord." In this " primitive Christianity," 
everything is made to depend on personal union to a personal 
Saviour. The exhortation in its nature refers not to the 
commencement, but to the continuance of faith. Those who 
have not yet returned, like the prodigal, to the Father's 
bosom, can neither understand nor comply with it. Only 
those who have embraced Christ can continue cleaving to 
him. If you bid a man hold fast who has not yet gotten 
hold, your words will be unintelligible to him. It is as if 



270 



The Church in the House. 



you should advise a man to lean on the air : if he try to 
comply, his hands go through, and find no support, But a 
dove finds that same air a sufficient support for her body's 
weight. Faith is the wing that spreads, and leans on the 
Omnipresent Spirit. As a bird without wings, is a human 
soul that has never learned to trust in God. There is that 
around and underneath us which would sustain our weight, 
but the unbelieving feel nothing firm, and fall helpless. 
The exhortation to cleave unto the Lord is appropriate to 
disciples who have already come to him, and tasted his 
mercy. 

There is mystery in this exhortation. This cleaving is an 
unseen thing. But it need not on that account seem strange. 
We meet with equal mysteries in nature. I have seen a 
heavy piece of solid iron hanging on another, not welded, 
not linked, not glued to the spot ; and yet it cleaved with 
such tenacity as to bear not only its own weight, but mine, 
too, if I choose to seize it and hang upon it. A wire 
charged with an electric current is in contact with its mass, 
and hence its adhesion. Cut that wire through, or remove 
it by a hair's-breadth, and the piece of iron drops dead to 
the ground like any other unsupported weight. A stream 
of life from the Lord, in contact with a human spirit, keeps 
that spirit cleaving to the Lord so firmly that no power on 
earth or hell can wrench the two asunder. From Christ 
the mysterious life- stream flows ; through the being of 
a disciple it spreads, and to the Lord it returns again. In 
that circle the feeblest Christian is held safely ; but if the 
circle were broken, the dependent spirit would instantly 
drop off. 

The phraseology of the evangelist designates the " heart " 
as the point of contact in this cleaving. Here the Scripture 
coincides with the laws of nature. All moral attractions 



The Exhortation that Barnabas gave. 271 

hold by the heart. The connecting link is love. We love 
Him because he first loved us. They who propose to keep 
a human being close to God in a conscientious obedience, 
by brandishing the terrors of the judgment in his face, 
misunderstand the essential principles of the case. They 
turn the wrong pole of the magnet to the steel, and thereby 
repel, instead of attracting it. You may as well expect a 
stone to rise from the ground spontaneously and float in the 
air, as expect that a human being will cleave to the Lord 
whom he dreads. I cannot keep close to Christ until I 
learn to love him, and I cannot learn to love him until I 
see that he offers his love to me. When he holds me by 
my heart, he holds me fast, and holds me for ever. 

But there must be " purpose " or predetermination as 
well as love, in order to attain a trustworthy, permanent 
attachment. Eandom impulses will not suffice. There 
must be method even in the affections. It is not wise, it is 
not safe, to leave our highest interests at the mercy of 
varying mental states. Frame a plan, and execute it. 
Without forethought and plan and stern resolution, we do 
not expect to be successful in any effort. If half the skill 
and energy and perseverance expended in the community in 
the acquisition of wealth were applied to the gain of godli- 
ness, we should soon have great treasures laid up at God's 
right hand. 

Barnabas, commissioned by the Church, and full of the 
Holy Ghost, must have known what was a seasonable word 
for young Christians ; and his exhortation to the believers in 
Antioch was, Cleave to the Lord. Bleeding heart of Christian 
to bleeding heart of Christ, both glued into one, — the severed 
branch inserted into the wounded Vine for life — for life in 
the Lord. 



272 



The Church in the House. 



LV. 

BARNABAS AND SAUL AT ANTIOCH. 

" For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith : and much 
people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for 
to seek Saul," etc.— Acts ix. 24-30. 

AT Jerusalem progress was checked. The blood of the 
martyr Stephen was indeed the seed of the Church ; 
but the seed was scattered abroad, and the harvest sprang in 
other lands. The apostles seem to have considered them- 
selves bound as yet by the Lord's command to remain at 
Jerusalem, but they remained there in comparative seclusion. 

There was no great enlargement like that which they had 
enjoyed after Pentecost. The ruling classes, in alliance with 
the mob, had succeeded in driving away or silencing most of 
the disciples ; Christ, rejected by his own, had now turned 
to the Gentiles. So the French rulers, by the massacre of 
St. Bartholomew, cast a shower of precious seed on other lands, 
and brought desolation for many generations on their own. 

While the apostles were waiting in comparative inactivity 
at Jerusalem, tidings strange and stirring reached them from 
a distance. At Antioch, the Eastern capital of the Empire, 
a great number of the Gentiles believed and turned to the 
Lord. Immediately the assembled brethren despatched 
Barnabas as their commissioner to examine the state of 
affairs, and act according to circumstances. When he came 
to Antioch he saw the grace of God there. He had the 
second sight, for he had the new birth, and the spiritual 
perception was a faculty of the new man. He rejoiced in 
the progress that the converts had made, and exhorted them 
to follow on to know the Lord. The result of his preaching 
was a great number of new conversions. 



Barnabas and Said at Antioch. 273 

The expression employed here to indicate the decisive 
change is striking and suggestive — "Much people was 
added unto the Lord." It occurred before, v. 14. It 
represents an intimate vital union between the Saviour 
and the saved, like the union between the vine and the 
branches. 

One fact worthy of special notice emerges here : — the 
ministry of Barnabas on this occasion was a ministry 
specifically intended for the edification of believers, and yet, 
in point of fact, it was eminently effective for the conver- 
sion of those who were without. The preacher addressed 
himself to the converted, and exhorted them to cleave to 
the Lord ; and, as a direct result, many strangers were 
brought nigh. The word, aimed at the living for increase 
of grace, strikes the spiritually dead, and awakens them to 
newness of life. 

Those who rightly divide the word of truth, alternate 
between these two departments of effort. The word is 
addressed now to those who are within, and now to those 
who are without. Yet in the ministry of the Sovereign 
Spirit, sometimes the word meant for edification is effectual 
for conversion ; and sometimes the word meant for convert- 
ing sinners is used for the growth of grace in believers. 

" Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul." 
When the work of the Lord was at its height in Antioch, 
the worker went away from the city. He went away, 
although a great door and effectual was opened to him — 
went away because a great door and effectual was opened. 
He saw the door so wide and hopeful, that he determined to 
call in a colleague — a colleague on whom his eye had for 
some time been set, and of whom he expected great things. 
Taking advantage of the proximity of Tarsus, he went to that 
city to summon the lately converted Saul to his aid. His 

s 



The Church in the House. 



own net cast into the sea at Antioch was so full, that he found 
it necessary to beckon to his partner in another ship for help 
to draw it to land. So, when a miner in the gold-fields has 
fallen upon a piece so large that he is unable single-handed 
to remove it, he leaves it where it lies — leaves the precious 
lump buried in the ground — leaves it, though his heart is in 
it, because his heart is in it — and goes away in search of a 
friend who may help him to bear the treasure home. 

I hope the two will not quarrel over the spoil when they 
come, for there is enough to make the fortune of both. Now 
there is an opportunity afforded to these winners of souls to 
make great gain. Not about this work and this treasure 
did Saul and Barnabas fall out. They agreed to share the 
labour and the reward : it was about another and a smaller 
thing that they afterwards quarrelled in a moment of 
unwatchfulness. 

It has been an instinct of true disciples from the begin- 
ning hitherto, to concentrate all their available forces on a 
spot where success has already begun. The specific call for 
additional labourers is not strongest on behalf of places and 
populations that merely show great need ; it is strongest on 
behalf of places and populations that are at once needy and 
promising. The call for help is ever more commanding when 
you are able to say, not only that there are many out of 
Christ, but also that not a few are coming in. 

This is a beautiful feature in the character of Barnabas. 
Besides working faithfully himself, he has the skill to enlist 
others in the work. He doubtless prayed to the Lord of the 
harvest to send forth labourers ; but to his prayers he added 
pains : he went out and did what he asked the Lord to do. 

Of all the disciples of that day, Barnabas was best 
acquainted with the talents and character of SauL He 
had already (ch. ix.) introduced the convert to the apostles 



Barnabas and Saul at Antiock. 2 75 

at J erusalem, and now he introduces him to his great work 
among the Gentiles. At Antioch a mighty two-leaved gate 
was opened to the Gentiles for the first time, and it was 
appropriate that the apostle of the Gentiles should there 
begin to exercise and to magnify his office. 

The historian notes, in passing, that the disciples were 
called Christians first at Antioch. Then and there the dis- 
ciples began to be known by the name of the Lord that 
bought them. Looking to the result, this circumstance is 
memorable. We are not distinctly informed by whom this 
designation was first applied. We may gather, however, 
with a considerable measure of certainty, that the term was 
employed by the Gentile Greeks to indicate the disciples of 
the Nazarene. The name is not assumed in this book by 
the Christians themselves ; and the unbelieving Jews would 
not employ it, for in their lips it would seem to concede that 
Jesus was indeed the Messiah. It is more likely, therefore, 
that the Gentiles, hearing that name continually from the 
lips of believers, employed it to designate the sect. 

The name is sweet, when it is true. But, alas ! it has 
often been made contemptible in the world through the 
impure lives of those who bear it. To be called by his 
name is nothing, unless we be renewed into his likeness. 

The other name, most commonly applied in Scripture to 
designate our Eedeemer, has experienced a similar diversity 
of use in the history of the Church. a How sweet the name 
of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear !" And yet a Jesuit has 
become a synonym for all that is false and cunning and 
corrupt throughout the civilised world. What 's in a name ? 
Nothing, even though it be the highest of all names, unless 
the new nature be formed in him who bears it. 

At this time certain prophets from Jerusalem warned the 
disciples at Antioch of a famine that should afflict the Empire 



276 The Church in the Hoitse. 



at an early date. It came in the reign of Claudius : it 
was severely felt in many provinces, but most of all in J udsea. 

This announcement is introduced into the narrative not 
for its own sake, but on account of the fruit which immedi- 
ately resulted in the form of contributions made out of their 
abundance by the believing Gentiles in Antioch, to sustain 
the believing Jews at Jerusalem in the day of their distress. 
These gifts have the peculiar fragrance of first-fruits. A 
very great harvest of charity for the sake of the common 
Head has since been reaped : and the latest reapings have 
been richest. Never and nowhere have the fruits of Divine 
love, in the form of help to the needy, grown so great as in 
the wake of great wars lately waged on the far-separated 
continents of America and Europe. As the prospect of 
famine in Judsea drew out the love of Christians at Antioch, 
and exhibited in the love of brethren a glory to the Lord, so 
the great wars of recent times have generated a self-sacri- 
ficing helpfulness that has, both for its quantity and its 
quality, become the wonder of the world. 

The power of Christ's love was made peculiarly manifest in 
the case of these contributions from Antioch, inasmuch as the 
contributors were mainly Gentiles, and the recipients Jews. 
What hath the Lord wrought ! The sun has gone back on 
the dial. Surely the partition- wall has at length been broken 
down, and Gentiles and J ews flow softly into one. 

Here too, in the first springs of that stream which ever 
since has flowed to bless the world, we learn one of the rules 
divinely prescribed for the management of charities : Among 
the disciples (1) every man gave ; and (2) every man gave as 
the result of a deliberate determination, a spontaneous act 
of his own will ; and (3) every man gave according to his 
ability. There was a measure to determine the quantity of 
the gifts ; and that measure was the degree of prosperity that 



Herod vexes the Church. 



277 



God had given to each. But this measure was not mechanic- 
ally applied by any external authority : it was determined 
in every case within the court of conscience, and by the 
contributor's own judgment. 

The love of Christ, in giving himself the just for the 
unjust, supplied the power which impelled the early Chris- 
tians into a life of benevolence ; but while in this matter 
they gladly placed themselves under law to God, they 
refused to become the servants of men. 



LVI. 

HEROD VEXES THE CHURCH. 

*' Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of 
the Church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword," 
etc. —Acts xii. 1-8. 

IN the beginning of chapter xi. we learned that sufferings 
separated those who were united ; and so the truth was 
spread : in the end we learned that sufferings united those 
who were separated; and so, by contributing food to the 
Jewish Christians, the Gentile Christians bridged with love 
the dividing gulf, and permitted the body of Christ to flow 
into one. 

When the converted Greeks at Antioch learned by pro- 
phecy that the brethren in Judaea would soon be in straits, 
they forthwith began to make contributions. Evidently 
they were cheerful givers. They would not murmur when 
the subscription list came round. They counted it blessed 
to give, and were ready. Before the calamity came, it was 
provided for. 

The scene chancres. From Antioch we are conducted 
back to Jerusalem again. After intimating that the door 



278 



The Church in the House. 



was opened among the Greeks, the historian proceeds to 
show that it was shut among the Jews. Indeed it was the 
shutting of the door at Jerusalem that opened it at Antioch. 
"When one channel was closed, the pent-up waters escaped 
by another. It was the persecution at home that drove the 
preachers abroad. 

But now another stage of the process is exhibited. Closer 
and closer was the door shut at Jerusalem ; wider and wider 
it opened toward the Greeks. By his apostles, as well as in 
his own personal ministry, Christ came unto his own, and 
his own received him not. 

The king who appears here is Herod Agrippa, grandson of 
Herod Antipater who slew the infants of Bethlehem, and son 
of Herod Antipas who beheaded the Baptist. He was mild 
in his natural temper, but fond of popularity. He persecuted 
the Christians not of his own motion, but to please the Jews. 
Hence the rejection of Messiah lies articulately on the Jewish 
people and their priests. To please them, Pilate delivered 
Jesus to be crucified ; to please them, Herod Agrippa killed 
James, the brother of John, with the sword. 

Hitherto the lives of the faithful apostles had been pre- 
served. Like Daniel in the lions' den, they had been kept 
from the power of their enemies. The Lord reigneth ; and 
for a time he threw a shield round the chiefs of the infant 
Church. While the flax is only smoking, he will not permit 
a blast to blow on it, lest the feeble life should be quenched ; 
but when the fire has gained some head, he allows the blast 
to come, that it may be fanned into a greater flame. 

Keeping Judas out of view, this is the first breach in the 
apostolic circle. They had in some measure learned to walk 
by faith, and even the fall of an apostle will not crush them 
now. In the case of James, the Lord shows that he will not 
always interfere to protect his servants from their enemies ; 



Herod vexes the Church. 2 79 



and in the case of Peter, he shows that he will interfere 
sometimes, lest the spirit should fail before him, and the 
souls that he has made. He will not suffer his people to be 
tempted above that they are able to bear. 

The first martyrdom in the apostolic college marks for us 
a law of the kingdom. It illustrates the meaning of Messiah's 
word, " My kingdom is not of this world ! " Not an inch of 
this world's surface will Christ maintain for himself by the 
sword. The kingdoms of this world will one day be all his ; 
but they will be subdued by the sword of the Spirit. It was 
Antichrist that gathered mercenaries from many lands to 
sustain the Roman bishop's throne, and crush the liberty of 
the Roman people. 

Observing that no Divine power was put forth either to 
protect James or avenge his death, this weak and unjust king 
ventured a step further in the same course. Finding that 
one murder procured him favour with the J ewish people, he 
determined to perpetrate another. Peter was designated as 
the next victim. He was arrested and imprisoned. The 
plan of the persecutor was to gratify the people by a public 
trial and public execution of the most distinguished follower 
of Jesus. 

But the remainder of the king's wrath it pleased God in 
this instance to restrain. To this raging sea the word of its 
Maker came, " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. " 

" Peter therefore was kept in prison ; but prayer was 
made," etc. This is a remarkable antithesis. Man proposes, 
but God disposes ; and the prayer of faith reaches the Dis- 
poser's hand. James was suddenly seized and taken off ; 
but in Peter's case there was time for the whole Church to 
unite in their prayer for his preservation. God in providence 
opened a door of opportunity through Herod's desire to keep 
all quiet till after the passover : the Church eagerly entered 



280 



The Church in the House. 



that door. They "inquired"' by a concert of prayer; and 
God in heaven was " inquired of " by them to do it for them. 

Four times four soldiers were employed to guard the 
prisoner. The night was divided into four watches ; and four 
watched at one time — two chained to the prisoner, and two 
on guard at the prison-door. 

On the morrow Herod meant to bring the victim out, for 
he will politically or hypocritically comply with the rule 
that no trial should take place on the feast-day. As soon as 
the service of God shall be over, we shall gratify the mob 
with the shedding of innocent blood ! On the morrow ! It 
seems a thin veil of one night's darkness that hangs between 
these wild beasts and their prey, that hangs between these 
suppliant disciples in John Mark's house and their great 
bereavement. The prayer- meeting is prolonged into the 
night — is prolonged to the morning. A mighty pressure is 
then brought to bear on the door of the kingdom — on the 
heart of the King. This is the violence that takes the king- 
dom by force. The pressure increases as the night wears on, 
and at last prevails. The Lord within the veil loved to feel 
that strain. He delights to answer such a cry. 

Peter, meanwhile, was sleeping. That sleep was the 
triumph of faith. Peter's sleep in the prison that night was 
as much glory to God as his wakefulness would have been, 
although he had sung psalms till the rafters rang again. 
Peter slept in Gethsemane, with the two brothers, on the 
night of the Master's supreme agony. Then he slept through 
weakness of the flesh ; now and here he sleeps through the 
strength of his faith. There he slept through weariness, 
although his Lord was enduring agony; here he sleeps in 
confidence, because his Lord was exalted to the throne of 
heaven, mindful and mighty to protect his own. 

Argyle's sleep, an incident in Scottish history, com- 



Herod vexes the Church. 



281 



meliorated by art in the Legislative Hall of Westminster, 
shines out as a bright particular star among the honoured 
deeds of our ancestors in a heroic age. The deep, placid 
sleep of the innocent Scottish noble on the morning of his 
martyrdom was a better testimony to his valour than any 
that could have been borne on the battle-field. 

Here is a precious lesson in this latter end of the world. 
How sweet it is to lie down every night, reconciled to God 
in Christ, and at peace, ready, if the Lord should so will, to 
awake in the eternal world ! This privilege need not be the 
rare attainment of a few ; for it is offered as free as the air to 
all. " Whosoever will, let him come." " Come unto me, all 
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

" The apostle sleeps ; a light shines in the prison, 
An angel touched his side : 
Arise, he said ; and quickly he hath risen, 
His fettered arms untied. 

" The watchmen saw no light at midnight gleaming, — 
They heard no sound of feet : 
The gates fly open, and the saint, still dreaming, 
Stands free upon the street. 

" So, when the Christian's eyelid droops and closes 
In Nature's parting strife, 
A friendly angel stands, where he reposes, 
To wake him up to life. 

" He gives a gentle blow, and so releases 
The spirit from its clay ; 
From sin's temptations, and from life's distresses, 
He bids it come away. 

" It rises up, and from its darksome mansion 
It takes its silent flight, 
And feels its freedom in the large expansion 
Of heavenly air and light. 

" Behind, it hears Time's iron gates close faintly, — 
It is now far from them ; 
For it has reached the city of the saintly, 
The New Jerusalem." 

J. D. Burns. 



282 



The Church in the House. 



LVII 

ANTIOCH OCCUPIED FOR CHEIST. 

" And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon : but they came 
with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain 
their friend, desired peace ; because their country was nourished by the king's 
country. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his 
throne, and made an oration unto them," etc. — Acts xii. 20-25 ; xni. 1. 

THE account of Herod's death, introduced into the narra- 
tive, accords in all main points with the statements of 
Josephus. He had removed his residence from Jerusalem 
to Csesarea, that he might be on the sea-coast, and in closer 
communication with Eome. On the occasion of a grand 
assembly, connected with an embassy from the commercial 
communities of Tyre and Sidon, he entered the theatre in 
his robes of state. His royal robes, studded with precious 
stones, glittered in the sun as he moved, and the obsequious 
multitude shouted, ascribing Divine honours to their idol, 
according to the custom of Roman mobs. The judgment of 
God fell upon the frail mortal, and he died soon after of a 
most loathsome disease. 

So died the persecutor ; " but the word of God grew and 
multiplied." This precious note is inserted in the history 
for comfort to the Church in time of trouble. Fear not, 
little flock ; greater is he that is for you than all that are 
against you. The word, a living power, had free course 
through the nations when the feeble monarch who attempted 
to quench it lay in his grave. Thus Pharaoh and his army 
sank in the sea, while Israel, emancipated, praised the Lord 
and resumed their march. 

If the princes and peoples of the earth should combine in 
an effort to destroy all the grain that exists — to stamp out 



Antioch occupied for Christ. 283 

the staff of life — they would not succeed. The seed has life 
in itself. Some of it, as the destroyers bore it to their bon- 
fires, would be spilt upon the ground, and be lost to view. 
The lost would live and spring. From its resurrection a 
manifold return would be obtained ; and the fields would be 
sown and ripen — seed-time and harvest would follow each 
other, after the foolish exterminators had returned to the 
dust. In like manner the efforts of persecutors have proved 
abortive ; they have not been able to extinguish the word of 
life. God has secured that there shall be seed to the sower 
and bread to the eater, both in the temporal and spiritual 
spheres, even unto the end of the world. 

" The word grew : " the expression is general : but in point 
of fact the widespread result was made up of many individual 
conversions, as a river is composed of many drops all obeying 
the same law. In ten thousand separate seeds the word fell 
into ten thousand separate hearts, and each heart, rent for 
receiving the seed, was further rent by the seed, when it 
swelled and grew. There is no wholesale spiritual growth. 
The wide revival consists of many persons, each of them 
separately renewed in the spirit. 

Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch. There is great 
significance in the going and coming of these messengers. 
These are the couriers of the Great King, carrying his 
commands from province to province of his realm. First, 
they carried from Antioch a contribution to sustain the 
Christians of Jewish origin at Jerusalem through the famine. 
That gift was well fitted as an instrument to remove barriers, 
and unite Greeks and Jews in the common faith. From 
Jerusalem, and from Jews, came forth the spiritual things 
wherewith the Gentiles at Antioch were enriched ; they only 
obey a law of the kingdom when they load the returning 
train with temporal gifts for Christian Jews in Jerusalem. 



284 



The Church in the House. 



Such reciprocal charities were eminently fitted to break down 
the partition -walls, and blend all believers into one. 

By this time the Christian leaders were aware of the im- 
portance of Antioch. They determined to occupy it for the 
work of the kingdom. Foreseeing the expansion of mis- 
sionary work both in and from the capital, Barnabas and 
Saul induced John Mark to accompany them and share their 
labour. He was the son of Mary, sister of Barnabas, in 
whose house the prayer-meeting was held while Peter was 
in prison, and to whose house Peter went when he was free. 
This young man would go to Antioch probably in two capa-? 
cities, — both as an assistant to the elder missionaries, and as 
a witness of their work, who might afterwards give evidence 
in J erusalem regarding its character. 

On the return of the deputation from Jerusalem, the 
College of Evangelists was constituted at Antioch. Exclud- 
ing John Mark as a junior and a new-comer, it consisted of 
five members. Besides the two missionaries already intro- 
duced to our notice, there were " Simeon that was called 
Niger, and Lucius of, Cyrene, and Manaen which had been 
brought up with Herod the tetrarch." The note attached to 
the name of this man is full of interest. He was foster- 
fellow of that Herod who slew the Baptist, and set at nought 
the Lord on the morning of his death. 

Manaen thus seems to be another Moses drawn out of the 
water. Brought up in the company of an ungodly and 
licentious prince, he was nevertheless chosen as an object of 
mercy, and employed as a messenger of grace. Perhaps, like 
Moses, he had it in his power to obtain and keep a position 
near the throne ; but, like Moses, he esteemed the reproach 
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. We 
have no account of his conversion ; but, whatever may have 
been its date and its circumstances, it is certain that when 



Antioch occupied for Christ. 285 

he became a disciple of Christ he no longer set any value on 
his connection with Herod's house. 

The power and sovereignty of grace are frequently dis- 
played in choosing one from the steps of a throne, and 
making him a vessel to bear the name of Christ. Manaen 
was snatched t from the side of a murderer, and numbered 
among the saints of the Most High. His name was blotted 
from the family register of the tetrarch, and written in the 
Lamb's book of life. Those who have been saved, as it were 
by fire, who have been arrested and won in spite of the 
strong man's greatest efforts to keep his goods in peace, have 
peculiar delight in looking back over the way by which the 
Lord has led them. On the other hand, those who remain 
in Herod's house, entangled by its business and gains, should 
learn from this case that they are welcome to Christ. It 
was a true word that fell from lying lips, when the Pharisees 
murmured, " This man receiveth sinners." Whosoever will, 
let him come. 

There is scarcely a congregation of believers that lacks its 
Manaen, highly esteemed now as a brother in the Lord, who 
seemed destined in his earlier years as devotee and victim to 
the pleasures of sin. It is a peculiar delight to the Christian 
brotherhood, and a peculiar glory to Divine grace, when one 
who has been brought up for the world is snatched from the 
world, and admitted as an heir of the new kingdom. It is 
sweet to see the children of Christian parents born to the 
Lord in their childhood, through means of a pious nurture ; 
but it is perhaps more gladdening and inspiring to see the 
goings of the Lord, when he puts forth his power to wrench 
subjects from the god of this world, and make them princes 
round his own throne. 



286 



The Church in the House. 



LVIII. 

THE FIRST FOREIGN MISSION. — CYPRUS . 

" As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me 
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when 
they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them 
away," etc.— Acts xiii. 2-12. 

"AS they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy 
XjL Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
work whereunto I have called them." While they were 
enjoying privileges for themselves, they heard the command 
to carry these privileges to others. Behold the natural his- 
tory of missions ! Freely ye have received, freely give. 
They possessed the gospel, and therefore they must spread 
it abroad. 

Two were sent out together. They remembered the act of 
the Lord Jesus, how he sent out the seventy in pairs, and 
they will follow his example. The ministry of the Spirit is 
sovereign here on every side. Antioch is chosen as the first 
site of a Gentile Church, and consequently becomes the 
starting-point for the first foreign mission. The same 
features that commended the place to Imperial Rome as 
the Eastern capital, commended it to the apostles of the 
Lord as the head- quarters of the kingdom that is not of this 
world. Situated in the East, it enjoyed, by the Orontes and 
the Mediterranean, easy access to Greece and Rome. From 
this great mart the glad tidings will be borne along with the 
stream of commerce to the nations of Africa and Europe. 

The men chosen for foreign work in accordance with the 
mind of the Spirit, were the mightiest men. They did not 
send out some persons who had turned out useless at home. 
The foreign field always needs, and in that age actually 
obtained, the ablest labourers. I suspect the chief obstacle 



The first Foreign Mission. — Cyprus. 287 

to the success of modem missions lies here. The Church at 
Antioch sent the cream of the ministry abroad ; if they had 
sent the grounds, their success would have corresponded to 
their effort. Here and there in our own time, when the Spirit 
has descended in power, some men mighty in word and deed 
have taken the field, and the result has been a gain corre- 
sponding to the outlay ; but it is the grief and the weakness 
of the Church at the present day that her chiefs are for the 
most part occupied at home. 

They sent Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas had already been 
tried, and found faithful. His gravity, his authority, and 
his benevolence seemed to point him out as leader of the 
expedition. But they have at hand this young man Saul 
— a man of vast knowledge, of fiery zeal, of great courage, 
and unflagging perseverance, but withal not much tried and 
not much known. Send him out under the direction and 
influence of Barnabas, that his great talents may be turned 
to the best account. Soon shall the whole Church know 
that the Lord has destined this man for the foremost place. 
When the pair departed it was Barnabas and Saul ; when 
they returned it was Paul and Barnabas. 

Westward the expedition moved. Europe must be won 
to Christ. The light of life, like the natural sun, travels 
from the East. 

The two missionaries were solemnly ordained to their 
specific work, and set out on their journey. Whether by 
land or by the river, they first travelled to Seleucia, the sea- 
port of Antioch, on the Mediterranean, and taking ship at 
that port, they crossed over to Cyprus, the nearest of the 
large islands. 

Having landed at Salamis, a town on the eastern side of 
Cyprus, they crossed the country without much delay or 
much success until they reached Paphos, the residence of 



288 



The Church in the House. 



the Roman governor, on the western shore. This was a place 
notorious for its licentiousness even in that age. It was 
the shrine of impurity for the heathen world. There the 
unclean spirit had his seat. These soldiers of Jesus Christ 
in their first campaign, marched right up to the capital of 
the enemy's kingdom. 

Among Eoman provinces Cyprus was small. The governor 
held not the highest rank. One may suppose he was dis- 
appointed when he learned that this comparatively insigni- 
ficant sphere was assigned to him, and envied the better 
fortune of competitors who obtained Gaul and Spain. He 
lived, however, to thank God for the providence that cast 
his lot in Cyprus. He did not enjoy so large a salary as the 
chief of a richer province, but he obtained through the mis- 
sionaries a greater treasure. 

This governor was a prudent man. He was thoughtful 
and sober. He was probably dissatisfied with the worn-out 
superstitions of idolatry, and longing for something solid on 
which his soul might lean. It is probable he asked Pilate's 
question, "What is truth ?" with an earnestness that Pilate 
never knew. Alas ! when people in high places become 
earnest inquirers, false teachers swarm around them like flies, 
eager to suck sustenance from the wounds of the great. The 
governor had at this time in his train a certain fortune-teller, 
who called himself Elymas — that is, " the wise," for the root 
in Arabic seems to be the same as the Turkish uhmoJi, or 
priest. This man's own Hebrew name was Bar-jesus, " son 
of the Saviour." He pretended, through soothsaying art, to 
cure the ailment of the governor's spirit ; and poor Sergius, 
precisely because he was ailing in spirit, had not force to 
throw off the incubus. The mountebank stuck to the 
governor, and fattened on his wealth. When the mission- 
aries from Antioch reached the city, and opened their com- 



The first Foreign Mission. — Cyprus. 289 

mission by preaching Christ, the governor sent a message to 
summon them to his court, that he might hear their doctrines. 
They willingly obeyed the summons, and presented them- 
selves at the palace. 

But the sorcerer, fearing lest his own influence should be 
destroyed, endeavoured to prevent the governor from listen- 
ing to the gospel, or to hinder him from receiving, if he had 
already heard it. How eagerly the modern sorceress, who 
sits on the seven hills, strives to hinder a meeting between 
human souls and Christ in his Word ! 

At this stage we would be apt to say, What a pity that 
Elymas was on the spot to interfere with the good work 
when the Christian missionaries obtained an opportunity of 
preaching to the ruling classes at the capital ! Nay ; He 
doeth all things well. As Christ said when Lazarus died, 
" I am glad for your sakes that I was not there ;" so he 
might say, in the case of Sergius Paulus, " I am glad for his 
sake that Elymas was there with his sorceries, seeking to 
turn away the deputy from the faith :" for the efforts of the 
sorcerer to turn him away were overruled as the means of 
bringing him near. If Elymas with his wicked arts had not 
been there, it is probable that the governor would not have 
been converted. In his later experience, Paul became well 
aware that the opposition by adversaries is often an essential 
means of success. On one occasion, reporting a very favour- 
able opportunity for conducting his work, he describes it by 
two features — a wide door, and many adversaries. He seems 
to intimate that one of these two factors alone would not 
have constituted the opportunity which he valued and 
enjoyed. Both were needed. If there had not been a fierce 
wind blowing against his kite, it would not have been able 
to rise. The experienced missionary accordingly was glad 
of the storm. 

T 



290 



The Church in the House. 



Who shall tell whether the sermon would not have fallen 
flat on sleepy ears, and whether the governor would not have 
yawned the preacher away to make room for some new excite- 
ment, if the opposition of Elymas had not arrested his 
attention, and the judgment on Elymas had not struck him 
with astonishment ? All things wrought for good : the things 
that happened then and there turned to the furtherance of 
the gospel. 

Here first the name Paul appears ; and Saul is not employed 
again, except in narratives of his earlier experience. Here, 
under his new name, Paul springs to the front, and he 
is never found in the second rank again. Now, first, he is 
fully installed into office as the Apostle of the Gentiles. 
It is in his short, sharp rebuke of Elymas that he reads 
himself in. 

In allusion to the meaning of the sorcerer's name, " son of 
the Saviour," the apostle sternly denounces him as a " child 
of the devil ; " and through inspiration speaks the sentence 
which God inflicts — the sentence of temporary blindness. 
This judgment falling on the adversary, convinced Sergius 
that Paul and Barnabas were men of God, and made him 
reverently listen to their word. " Then the deputy, when he 
saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine 
of the Lord." What was done could not have enlightened 
and renewed the Eoman ; but it opened his mind for the 
reception of the word of life. Thus the Lord in providence 
at this day employs judgment-strokes of many different kinds 
to open a path for the gospel into hearts that otherwise would 
have remained closed. Welcome the Lord's hand, even 
though its stroke be painful, when it prepares the way for 
the Lord's word ! If we had access to the great multitude 
who stand round the throne in white clothing, and could ask 
each saved saint to tell his own experience, probably nine 



The first Foreign Mission, — Cyprus. 291 

out of every ten would answer that providence, generally 
feared and fretted at, came crushing forward first, and broke 
up a way for grace to follow. 

The judgments of the Lord's hand opened a way into the 
heart of Sergius for the Lord's word. That word, when it 
entered, filled him with wonder. " He was astonished at 
the doctrine of the Lord/' After the storm and the thunder, 
the " still small voice " asserted its power. The story of the 
cross was a new thing to the Roman. It was not like the 
doctrine of the Greek philosophers : it was not like the 
doctrine of the Jewish soothsayer. These missionaries told 
the governor that God is love, and that he so loved the 
world that he gave his only Son to save the lost. They told 
him that God, in our nature, had given himself a sacrifice, 
the just for the unjust. As this doctrine fell on the governor's 
ears, his heart melted. Felix trembled, and returned to his 
sin : Sergius trembled, and cleaved to Christ. One is taken 
and another left. 

Poor Sergius had lived up to this time in a dark, sunless 
world. He was uneasy, and knew not what ailed him. He 
craved for light, and yet knew not where to find it. We 
know that he longed for something to satisfy his soul, for he 
kept the Jewish magician hanging about his court. He 
clutched a shadow ; and this showed at least that he had an 
appetite for the substance. In his darkness he had heard of 
this man's pretensions, and sent for him. " Can you strike 
some light for us, stranger ? for we are in darkness unendur- 
able here. Give us some light for our souls, if you can, 
by your magical arts." To such a man, in such a mood, 
the doctrine of the Lord, when it was unfolded, was like 
the sunlight bursting through the primeval mist upon a 
hitherto benighted world. It was sight to the blind, and 
life to the dead. 



292 



The Church in the House. 



LIX. 



THE GOSPEL IN ASIA MINOR 



"Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in 
Pamphylia : and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But 
when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went 
into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading 
of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, 
saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the 
people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men 
of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience," etc.— Acts xiii. 13-52. 



AUL had already taken the lead in the interview with 



JL Sergius ; and he keeps it, now when the missionary 
company take leave of Cyprus, and make for the mainland 
of Asia Minor. 

The immediate reason why Cyprus was chosen as the field 
of operation when the mission first started from Antioch, was 
probably the connection of Barnabas with that island as the 
place of his birth. Perhaps the journey northward to the 
province of Pamphylia now was in like manner due to the 
predominance which Paul had attained in the councils of the 
company. They sailed from Paphos, on the western shore of 
Cyprus, to the nearest point of the neighbouring continent. 
The landing-place was not, indeed, in Cilicia, Paul's native 
province, but it was in the bordering territory, and must have 
been familiar to him in his youth. 

" Paul and his company loosed from Paphos and came to 
Perga in Pamphylia." The great work is begun ; the mes- 
sengers run to and fro ; knowledge of the Lord is increased. 
Eorth from Jerusalem the word has gone ; and it will never 
be shut up within one nation again. The word has come to 
the world ; the people who sat in darkness saw a great light. 

These isles of Greece ! — green spots that stud the bosom 




The Gospel in Asia Minor. 



293 



of the sea, and stud our memories too from childhood with 
romantic associations — we think of them as the early home 
of the arts, at a time when our country was the hunting- 
ground of "barbarians. These isles of Greece ! — we remember 
with youth's enthusiasm, that on the waters which surround 
them the battle of liberty was fought and won, when the 
small Greek communities broke the power of the Persian 
monarchy, as the country's rocky shores broke the waves of 
the Mediterranean. 

But on the page of Scripture a more entrancing scene is 
displayed. The feet of the men who publish salvation tread 
the isles of Greece, and touch the waters that lave its shores. 
These heralds proclaim to the nations peace with God through 
the one Mediator. The barque that bore the missionaries of 
the cross was buoyed up on the same waters that carried 
those classic navies which bore back the tide of invasion 
from their shores : but a greater than classic fleet is here ; here 
a greater victory is won, and a more precious liberty achieved. 
If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed. 

The apostle of the Gentiles is now fully under way. This 
is the beginning of his course ; and what a course ! No mere 
man has left his mark so deep and broad upon this world. 
No conqueror, ancient or modern, can be compared with 
this wandering Jew, either as to the magnitude or the 
beneficence of his influence on the character and history of 
the human race. 

There is a tendency in our day to escape from some of the 
doctrines which Paul has clearly expressed and fully ex- 
pounded in his epistles. These doctrines are by some persons 
disliked, and therefore disbelieved. In connection with this 
subject some indisputable facts should be carefully noted and 
remembered. These deep abstract doctrines which Paul taught 
— the doctrines of justification by faith and pardon through 



294 



The Church in the House. 



a sacrifice — communicated the impulse to the greatest practi- 
cal life known to history. These were the impelling motives 
of the largest and most fruitful of human lives. It was by 
the proclamation and inculcation of these doctrines that the 
old things of human civilisation were swept away and all 
things were made new. In them lay the power that turned 
the world upside down. Those who nibble at the Pauline 
dogmas should take along with their criticisms the fact that 
these dogmas have in very deed put forth more power to 
mould the character and destinies of humanity than any or 
all other doctrines put together. 

As soon as the missionary group reached the mainland, 
Mark left them, and returned to Jerusalem. We do not 
exactly know his reasons ; but we know that Paul thought 
them insufficient, and publicly blamed the act. So much 
did he disapprove of Mark's conduct at this time, that at a 
subsequent stage he refused to accept him as a companion, 
although that refusal implied separation from his beloved 
Barnabas. Possibly Mark may have been offended by the 
change that had silently been effected in the leadership of 
the expedition. When he left Antioch as the junior colleague, 
his uncle Barnabas was at its head ; but when he left Paphos 
the whole group passed under the designation of " Paul and 
his company/' Barnabas himself was superior to such 
jealousy ; but it does not follow that the younger evangelist 
altogether escaped the tinge. 

Leaving Perga, on the coast, the two elder missionaries 
penetrated to Antioch in Pisidia — a much less important 
city than the Antioch from which the expedition sailed — 
and there opened their commission as preachers of Christ's 
gospel. They modestly entered the synagogue on the Sab- 
bath, and sat down among the ordinary worshippers. The 
elders in charge conducted the usual service in the usual way, 



The Gospel in Asia Minor. 



295 



and then sent a message inviting the strangers to address 
the assembly. 

Paul is the spokesman abroad, as Peter had been at home. 
Having been led to the proper place, he waved his hand as 
a token for silent attention, and proceeded with his address. 

Following the method of Stephen, which he doubtless re- 
membered well, he sought an entrance to the sanctuary of 
the gospel through the vestibule of venerated Hebrew history. 
When he had carried his sketch down to the time of David, 
he turned aside from the narrative and plunged into his 
main theme — presented David's Son to the faith of David's 
subjects. 

At the close of the sermon, when the bulk of the congre- 
gation dispersed, a band of earnest inquirers, partly Jews, 
but for the most part Gentiles, remained with the missionaries 
— their appetites quickened, not satisfied by what they had 
heard. Pleasant excitement it must have been to these 
fishers for men when they felt many grasping and drawing. 
Puller explanation was given in private to all the inquirers, 
and a promise made, in answer to their eager request, that 
the same doctrines would be taught in the synagogue next 
Sabbath-day. I think those men of Antioch who remained 
after the sermon to converse with the ministers would have 
many thoughts and conversations on the subject during the 
week. When they came up to the house of God next Sab- 
bath they were sure of the blessing ; for the finding is, in 
the Lord's promise, made sure to those who seek. 

It is remarkable that Paul, though rejected by his own 
countrymen at Jerusalem, and sent out as the apostle of 
the Gentiles, yet uniformly addressed himself first to the 
Jews wherever he found them. He maintained the spirit 
of the Lord's rule, when compliance with the letter was no 
longer possible, — "beginning at Jerusalem." The Jews of 



296 



The Church in the House. 



the dispersion participated in the privilege : the first offer 
was always made to the seed of Abraham. In each case the 
gospel was presented to the heathen when it was rejected 
by the Jews. 

When the Greek inhabitants of the city came out in mass 
to hear the gospel, the Jews were envious, and violently 
opposed the apostles. In his defence Paul quotes a promise 
(Isa. xl. 5 ; Luke ii. 32), calling it a command. It is 
eminently instructive to observe that when God promises 
light to the Gentiles, Christians understand the word as an 
order to themselves to spread the light in the dark places of 
the earth. When God proclaims that the thing shall be 
done, true disciples of Christ go forth to do it. They count 
the promise a command, and render themselves instruments 
of righteousness unto God. The result was, " the word of 
the Lord was published through all that region." They 
rightly understood the Scripture, " Work, for it is God that 
worketh in you." 

Besides appealing to the civic authorities against the 
missionaries, the Jews, in their eagerness to obstruct the 
work, secretly enlisted the services of certain women, high in 
social position, and full of superstitious zeal, to counteract 
the effects of the preached word. This is an agency that has 
from the beginning been sought and used both for good and 
for evil. Women were employed by the Lord himself for 
certain appropriate ministries in the establishment of his 
kingdom. But false teachers have in all times availed 
themselves of the combined weakness and strength of the 
feminine nature for their own ends. They find in many 
women the religious element strong, and the faculty of 
judgment comparatively weak. By the weak side they 
enter in and take possession ; when once in, they wield the 
strong side for their own purposes. The Eomish hierarchy 



The Gospel in Asia Minor. 297 

have always made much of female agency, and especially 
the agency of women in high social rank. 

But as Christ himself employed their tenderness, and 
patience, and perseverance in his own cause, he has en- 
couraged his disciples in all ages to go and do likewise. Let 
woman stand on her true foundation, the family ; and forth 
from that citadel let her go to her daily task wherever the 
Lord hath need of her service : but back to the family let 
her ever return, as to her refuge and rest. Colonies of 
women, cut off from family relations and affections and duties, 
and bound by vows, are mischievous to themselves, and, not- 
withstanding superficial apparent advantages, in the long-run 
dangerous to the community. God made the family ; man 
made the convent God's work ! behold, it is very good ; 
man's is in this case a snare. 

The unbelieving Jews, through secret influence and public 
authority combined, succeeded in driving the missionaries 
away from Antioch. On their part, the missionaries, with 
the symbolic protest of shaking the dust from their feet, 
made the best of their way to Iconium, filled, as they fled, 
" with joy and with the Holy Ghost." 

It is not enough to say that they were joyful although 
they were persecuted; for they were joyful because they 
were persecuted. Suffering made them glad, because it was 
a distinct fulfilment of their Master's word. He warned 
them that these troubles would overtake them for his name's 
sake. Now that they have experience of cruel treatment at 
Antioch, they were convinced of two things, — that the Lord 
saw the end from the beginning, and that they are on the 
right way. The way was rough indeed, but its roughness 
was a mark by which they knew it to be right. It was a 
uniform experience, that wherever their word told, enemies 
rose up against them. Wherever they met with great 



298 



The Church in the House. 



success, there they met with great opposition. As soon as 
the door of opportunity opened, a crowd of adversaries 
rushed in. This was according to law. Where the heaviest 
blow is dealt against his kingdom, there the god of this 
world gathers all his forces for defence. When the ants' 
hill is stirred, the busy little angry creatures rush out in 
crowds to the rescue. 

In this passage we read of two distinct and opposite fill- 
ings. The Jews were filled with envy; the apostles with 
joy. These were tormented before the time by an evil 
spirit indwelling; those enjoyed a foretaste of heaven's 
happiness in the Holy Spirit as a spirit of joy possessing 
their hearts. 

Iconium, the place in which the missionaries next sought 
refuge and employment, was the nearest town to the east, 
and lying within the limits of another province. Though 
they had been persecuted at Antioch for preaching Christ 
there, the first thing they did when they reached Iconium 
was to preach Christ. The fire burned in their breasts, and 
they could not restrain it : woe is unto me if I preach not 
the gospel ! 

They entered the synagogue as before, and preached to 
the congregation at the close of the usual service. A 
rumour regarding the extraordinary power of their preaching 
had preceded them, and accordingly a great miscellaneous 
crowd of Jews and Greeks were assembled to hear. Again 
the immediate result was the conversion of many, both Jews 
and Greeks. The high and. broad partition that divided 
these classes was giving way. That mountain had begun 
to flow down at the presence of the Lord. 



" Once zv as I stoned!" 



299 



LX. 

" ONCE WAS I STONED." 

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue 
of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of 
the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and 
made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore 
abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the 
word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their 
hands. But the multitude of the city was divided : and part held with the 
Jews and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made 
both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them 
despitefully, and to stone them, they were ware of it, and fled imto Lystra 
and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about : 
and there they preached the gospel," etc. — Acts xiv. 1-21. 

AN intimation occurs here, worthy of careful regard by 
all who undertake any work for Christ's kingdom, — 
" They so spake that a great multitude believed." We are 
often warned that the power of the gospel does not depend 
on excellency of speech, or mans wisdom — that the harvest 
is due to the vitality of the seed on the one hand, and the 
sun and rain of heaven on the other, not to the sower's skill. 
All this is true ; and yet it remains that, by Divine appoint- 
ment, the instrument has a place, and the result is to 
some extent affected by the manner in which the ministry 
is conducted. 

It is expressly announced that the manner in which the 
word was preached had something to do with the numbers 
who believed in Iconium. All preaching that is equally 
orthodox and faithful is not equally successful. The preacher 
should publish the gospel in " acceptable words ;" and 
acceptable words should be " sought out " by careful study, 
if they do not readily leap to the lips. There must be labour, 
and skill, and perseverance ; there must be the exhibition of 
human tenderness, as well as the possession of secret faith. 



3oo 



The Church in the House, 



We should ply the work of winning as if all depended od 
our own exertions ; and yet cry to the Lord for power, as if 
we could do nothing. When it is intimated that the 
apostles so preached that a great multitude believed, great 
honour is put on the ministry, and great responsibility on 
the minister. In particular, it does not become any 
minister of Christ to fling out the challenge hard and dry 
to his audience, — Accept this message or reject it; if you 
reject it you perish, and your blood will be upon your own 
heads. It may be necessary to give that challenge, but he 
should give it "weeping:" if the expression of it do not 
rend the speaker's heart, it is not likely to melt the hearts 
of the hearers. 

The native heathen did not take the initiative in per- 
secuting the apostles; they remained passive, until they 
were instigated to action by the more positive enmity of the 
Jews. Instead of being intimidated by the combined 
opposition of Greeks and Hebrews, the preachers of the 
gospel remained longer and spoke more boldly because the 
enmity was redoubled. They spoke boldly "in the Lord," 
and so they were enabled to speak boldly for the Lord. 
Their courage sprang from their faith. 

There was a division among the people, and a commotion 
in the city. There was peace in the neighbourhood before 
Paul and Barnabas arrived. It is probable that some 
accused these preachers as the cause of the strife. They 
would then remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how 
he said, "I came not to send peace on the earth, but 
a sword." When the community is dead in sin, to throw 
the word of life into the stagnant mass necessarily disturbs 
it. Although the Redeemer is Prince of Peace, he is 
not satisfied with the serenity of a dead sea. He casts in a 
solvent whose nature it is in the first instance to arouse and 



" Once was I stoned! 



301 



separate. The peace which he values is the purity which 
is reached through conflict. People must take sides when 
the cross of Christ is preached in time, as they must take 
sides when the throne of Christ is set in eternity. 

When the persecution reached such a height that it 
threatened their lives, the missionaries retired from the city, 
according to the law of the Lord for that case laid down — 
" When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another/' 
They took refuge in Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, 
whose site is not now accurately known. "There they 
preached the Gospel." This was the work of their life ; this 
was their ruling passion • it was a passion, and it ruled 
them. They cared indeed for life, and fled when death 
threatened them; but they valued life, and sought to 
preserve it, mainly for the work that life enabled them to 
perform. They preserved life in order that they might 
preach ; but they would not cease to preach in order that 
they might continue to live. 

A cripple was healed at Lystra, and the act became the 
occasion of an incident characteristic of the prevailing 
idolatry. The imagination of the polytheistic Greeks im- 
mediately invested the missionaries with Divine attributes, 
and acknowledged them as human impersonations of two 
of their deities — Jupiter, the chief; and Mercury, his attend- 
ant minister. It is worthy of notice, in passing, that the 
primitive idea of making the tallest king still prevailed in 
that region. Barnabas, as the more commanding presence, 
was made to represent Jupiter ; while Paul, whose spiritual 
supremacy they were unable to understand, was placed in 
the position of a subordinate. 

Promptly following up their wild belief with an equally 
wild practice, they forthwith led garlanded oxen to the place 
of sacrifice at the gate, and were about to slay them as pro- 



302 



The Church in the House. 



pitiatory offerings to the supposed celestial visitants, when the 
apostles, shocked by the blind and guilty superstition of the 
people, ran in among them, and summarily suppressed the 
horrid design. The address which the missionaries delivered 
to the idolaters of Lystra on that occasion was in substance 
and form the same with Paul's more elaborate argument 
afterwards delivered on the Areopagus at Athens. It will be 
more convenient to notice the sentiments as expressed at a 
greater crisis and on a more prominent sphere. 

Before they left Lystra, another event occurred which 
exhibits heathenism on its other and opposite side. Jewish 
emissaries from Antioch and Iconium, following the track of 
the missionaries like blood-hounds, so successfully incited the 
mob that " they stoned Paul, and drew him out of the city, 
supposing he had been dead." It is enough for the servant 
that he be as his Lord : " Hosanna \" to-day ; and " Crucify 
him !" to-morrow. As the Jews treated Jesus, the Gentiles 
at Lystra treated Paul : they worshipped him in the morning 
as a god, and at night stoned him as unfit to take his place 
among men. 

" Once was I stoned," wrote the apostle of the Gentiles, 
referring to this event. Yes, Paul ; and once another thing 
happened, equally memorable. Once he stoned another, and 
once he was stoned himself. Strange revolution of the wheel ! 
Now it is his turn to enact the martyr, praying for his mur- 
derers, and looking forward to rest. What a crowd of 
memories must have rushed up when he felt his spirit 
swooning away under the stone shower ! This would seem 
the echo of his own dread act. Stephen's heroic death must 
have left its mark deep on the heart of the converted Paul. 
Perhaps, when he felt what he believed to be the sleep of 
death creeping over his senses, he expected at his next 
awakening he would find himself in Stephen's company. 



" Once was I stoned!' 



303 



In all probability a young man, of whom we shall after- 
wards hear, stood among the mourners who assembled round 
Paul's lifeless body at Lystra. The young man Saul looked 
on approving at J erusalem when the Christian hero Stephen 
died : a young man, Timothy, I believe, looked on weeping 
when Paul was stoned at Lystra ; and afterwards, with 
unspeakable joy, saw the apostle awaking from his swoon. 
When Paul, after an interval of two years, visited Lystra 
again, he found Timothy residing there, a disciple of Christ, 
already well known and highly esteemed by all the brother- 
hood (Acts xvi. 1). At a later date he writes to him as his 
" own son in the faith " (1 Tim. i. 2). From these two facts, 
it results that Timothy was converted by the word of Paul 
on the occasion of his first visit to Lystra. Here then, as in 
many other cases, the work prospered while the workman 
was discouraged and persecuted. The missionary, when he 
left that place, thought that he had visited it in vain ; yet 
the seed that fell from his hand there found soft soil in one 
young ingenuous heart, and brought forth fruit an hundred- 
fold. We know (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11) that Timothy was 
intimately acquainted with the peculiar sufferings through 
which Paul passed on this occasion at Lystra ; and we know 
also that from his childhood he had been trained in the 
Scriptures by the pious care of his mother and grandmother. 
Prom these circumstances we are enabled, in a good measure, 
to complete the history of the young man's spiritual experi- 
ence. With the Scriptures, in their evangelical meaning, 
impressed on his mind and memory, he heard Paul preach. 
While the word which presented the Christ as the fulfilling 
of the law was still sounding in his ears, he beheld the great 
preacher stoned, as he thought, to death for his testimony. 
The word preached and the sufferings endured, conspired to 
complete the victory, and the youthful Timothy was won. 



304 



The Church in the Hottse. 



It was not till a subsequent visit that the apostle was cheered 
by the knowledge of this event ; but the event sprang direct 
from the seed that has continued prolific down to our own 
day — the blood of the martyrs. 

From Lystra the missionaries retired still eastward through 
the interior of Asia Minor. At Derbe, the extreme limit of 
their progress in that direction, they preached the gospel with 
great success, for they made many disciples there. The term 
literally means a sufficient number — that is, a group of 
believers was gathered there in numbers sufficient to con- 
stitute a Church, whose members might hold together and 
hold their own in the place after the departure of the 
apostles. These planters were afraid to plant one or two 
trees on the sea-shore, exposed to the blast ; they greatly 
preferred, wherever it was possible, to plant a wood on the 
spot ere they left it, and then they expected that the wood 
would shelter the trees ; — the community of disciples would 
support and cheer each other through evil days. 

At Derbe they were close to a pass in the mountains, 
called "the Gates of Cilicia," which led, by a short and 
direct route eastward, to Tarsus, the home of Paul. " If he 
had been mindful of that country from whence he came out, 
he might have had opportunity to have returned " (Heb. xi. 
1 5). But his native place had no charm that could draw 
him aside from his mission. He had severely condemned 
Mark for going home before the work was done ; and he will 
not himself fall into the same snare. He obtained grace to 
turn his back upon home when the work of the Lord beckoned 
him abroad. He turned his face westward again, and retraced 
his steps to that Lystra which was to him the place of blood. 
Luther, when his friends advised him to consult his own 
safety, declared he would enter Worms although every tile 
of its roofs were a devil ! Paul will go straight back to 



Through mtcch Tribulation. 



305 



Lystra, where he had been stoned for preaching Christ, that 
he may preach Christ there again. By such men God has 
done great things at various periods of the past ; and when 
he has similar work in hand, he will, I suppose, raise up 
similar instruments. 



" Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the 
faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of 
God." — Acts xrv. 22. 



I and travelled westward, revisiting in reverse order all 
the places where they had preached and founded societies of 
disciples. Their specific task this time was different. They 
set themselves on this occasion to confirm the souls of the 
converts, and exhort them as to their subsequent course. 
The Christians in those places were already born, but they 
needed to be nourished into strength. These are the two 
main points in a missionary's work. On their former visit, 
they occupied themselves mainly with the first ; and on the 
latter, mainly with the second. The first necessity is, to see 
that they are in Christ ; and the next, to see that they grow 
strong in the Lord. 

They valued the right and orderly constitution of the 
Churches, and this matter accordingly was not neglected ; 
but they gave their first attention to the work of confirming 
souls. What boots a well- organised Church, if it consists of 
dead members ? The living may live without organisation, 
but organisation is nothing without life. Let us remember 
the apostolic order of these two things : it is first, get souls 



LXI. 



THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION. 




turned on their own steps 



306 



The Church in the House. 



confirmed ; and then, get the community constituted under a 
sound and Scriptural government. 

Corresponding with their specific object, the burden of the 
missionaries' preaching this time is not " Kepent and believe 
the gospel," but, " Continue in the faith." And for the rest, 
the warning word rings clearly out, " We must through much 
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Nothing strange 
will happen to these Asiatic believers : the preachers include 
themselves in this description of the Christian life. It is a 
law of the kingdom that they announce here. The forewarned 
are forearmed. Eemembering this word, they will not faint 
when persecution for Christ's sake comes. 

Much tribulation ! Yes ; but they will pass through it. 
"What a word is this ! Thanks be to God for this blessed 
transitive preposition ! No part of speech so sweet as this 
in all the lessons of the grammarian ! There is trouble, but 
the disciples of Christ get through it. Trouble changes its 
nature when you are assured that it cannot last long. Can 
you measure the difference between abiding in tribulation 
and going through it ? No ; it passeth all understanding. 
You never read of the unsaved passing through their suffering, 
or of the saved in Christ passing through their joy. In the 
one case, it is a passing through joy (the pleasures of sin) 
into tribulation ; in the other, a passing through tribulation 
into the joy of the Lord. 

The life of a disciple on earth is like a voyage on the sea. 
The sea is rough ; the heart is sick ; the land is not in sight. 
Helpless and miserable, the voyager lays himself down at 
night. He looks and feels as if he cared for nothing, and 
hoped for nothing. But underneath all this sadness a living 
hope is burning which these stormy waters cannot quench. 
He has confidence in the ship and the crew ; he expects soon 
to reach the shore. And when he reaches it his sorrow is 



Through much Tribulation. 307 



over, and even the memory of it almost blotted out. Sud- 
denly, from the open sea, the ship has passed through the 
portals of the haven, and there is a great calm. He has 
passed through the tribulation. 

Those who have watched the death-bed of Christians 
have seen such a storm suddenly settling into a calm. It 
is a great relief to weeping witnesses when the tossing 
ceases, and the peace begins. 

It is not only that in point of fact tribulation happens to 
lie between Christians and their rest : it has been placed 
there of deliberate design by a wise and loving Father, in 
order that, by passing through it, they may be prepared for 
a rest beyond. 

In some of the most delicate manufactures of this country, 
the web, in a rude and unsightly state, enters a vessel filled 
with a certain liquid, passes slowly through, and emerges con- 
tinuously at the opposite side. As it enters, the cloth seems 
all of one colour, and that one dim and unattractive ; as it 
emerges, it glitters in a variety of brilliant hues arranged in 
cunning figures, like a robe of needle-work for the adornment 
of a queen. The liquid through which the fabric passes is 
composed of certain fiery, biting acids ; and the reason why it 
is strained through such a bath is, that in the passage all the 
deforming and defiling things that have adhered to its surface 
in preceding processes may be discharged, and the figures, 
already secretly imprinted, may shine out in their beauty. 

Thus the disciples of Christ are in this life drawn through 
great tribulation, although the Lord who loves them has all 
power in heaven and in earth : nay, precisely because the 
Lord who loves them has all power in heaven and in earth, 
they are bathed in this sea of sorrows. It is not that this 
sea lies in their way, and that by a kind of geographical 
necessity they must go through it; rather, the Lord that 



3 o8 



The Church in the House. 



bought them has provided that sea, and placed it across 
their path, that in its bitter waters the manifold incrusta- 
tions that defile their beauty may be discharged ere they 
appear before the great white throne. Already, and by the 
ministry of the Spirit, the various features of their Kedeemer's 
likeness have been secretly imprinted on their hearts ; but 
these features have been so overlaid by manifold corruptions 
in actual life, that the new nature can scarcely be recognised. 
Hence the necessity of providing a searching medium, and 
making even those who are " his workmanship " pass through 
it for their own good. 

Much tribulation : He is wise and loving who determines 
in each case its amount and its duration. He does not 
spare the patient so as to spoil the work by leaving it half- 
done. A child is ailing ; and some slight but rather painful 
operation is required. The mother will herself perform it. 
But after she has begun, the child cries pitifully : the 
mother's courage fails. She desists, lays down the instru- 
ment, takes the child in her arms, and wipes away the 
falling tears. The child's crying ceases under this process, 
but the child's ailment is not cured. The case must be put 
into the surgeon's hands. He has both skill to know what 
is needed and courage to carry it through. He will not 
spare for the patient's crying. This treatment is better in 
the long-run for the child. 

I have been informed, as I looked curiously on the web 
in perpetual motion passing through, that if it were allowed ] 
to remain one minute too long in the bath, the fabric itself 
would be destroyed. The manufacturer, skilful and careful, c: 
has so tempered the ingredients on the one hand, and timed le 
the passage on the other, that while the impurities are to 
thoroughly discharged, the fabric comes out uninjured. In \ 
wisdom and love, both infinite, the Lord has mingled the I; 



The Missionaries return to Antioch. 309 



ingredients, and determined the duration of the baptism ; so 
that, on the one hand, none of his should be lost, and, on the 
other, every grace of the Spirit should be brought out in its 
beauty upon all his own. 

Thus, there is a " need-be " for the great tribulation ; but 
we shall miss more than half the meaning of the word here 
if we think of this necessity as applicable only to the 
suffering. Another thing is necessary — a better and a 
brighter. True, it is said of all Christ's people, that they 
must pass through much tribulation ; but it is also said of 
them, that they must enter the kingdom. As certainly as he 
came out to seek, those whom he finds shall go in. He 
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. 
The Captain of our salvation will bring many sons into 
glory. The "must" is spoken of the abundant entrance as 
well as of the narrow road. Fear not, little flock ; it is your 
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 



"And when they had ordained them elders in every chnrch, and had prayed with 
fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed," etc.— 



HILE the apostles devoted themselves mainly to the 



H preaching of the gospel, they did not neglect the 
organisation of the Church. The young disciples were not 
left long without institutions and order. For edification 
and discipline and defence, each community was constituted 
a corporation ; and in each corporation elders were ordained. 
It was on the second visit of the missionaries that this was 



LXII. 



THE MISSIONARIES RETURN TO ANTIOCH. 



Acts xiv. 23-28. 




310 The Church in the House. 

done. An interval was permitted to elapse, that the fittest 
men might emerge ; and already the rule, " Lay hands 
suddenly on no man," was practised before it was prescribed. 

The term translated "ordained," etymologically signifies 
election by a show of hands ; and although, in later times, 
the word was employed to express the act of a bishop with- 
out election by the congregation, the original root remains 
as a fossil evidence of the liberty that prevailed in the 
primitive Church. This and many other privileges which 
were enjoyed in apostolic times were gradually undermined 
by the encroachments of ecclesiastical power in a later age. 

The founders of these infant communities could not 
remain with the inexperienced converts. They were obliged 
to leave the Christians among unbelieving Gentiles and 
Jews, as sheep in the midst of wolves ; and yet they were 
not overwhelmed with fear for the safety of the churches. 
Faith was then young and fresh, and full of life. They 
commended their charge "to the Lord, on whom they 
believed," and proceeded on their journey. They had no 
arm of flesh whereon to lean, and they seem never to have 
thought such a support needful. 

Having traversed the province of Pisidia, they came to 
Perga, the place at which they had first landed when they 
crossed from Cyprus to the continent. For some reason 
not expressed, they had merely passed through that place 
on their first visit ; and now, when they returned to it the 
second time, they paused and preached. This town was in 
communication with the sea by means of a river; but 
though the missionaries desired now to return by sea to 
Antioch in Syria, they did not sail direct from Perga — pro- 
bably because the larger ships did not frequent that port. 
Another harbour farther westward, called Attaleia, better 
suited their purpose. A greater traffic congregated there, 



The Missionaries return to Antioch. 3 1 1 

and there accordingly they might more readily obtain a 
passage to Syria. 

From this port a great army of Crusaders sailed for 
Antioch in the middle ages — a wretched, unfortunate rabble, 
who perished by thousands on the way. Alas ! the gospel 
which Paul and Barnabas brought to these shores was 
greatly corrupted in the course of a thousand years. How 
unlike the clear, certain sound of the first preachers, was the 
echo which returned from West to East in the crusading 
times ! These two men, not fighting, but suffering, came 
from east to west, with no weapon but the Word, mighty 
through God to subdue the nations ; but when the West, in 
an evil day, proposed to make a return missionary visit to 
the East, they bore carnal weapons, and wasted the terri- 
tories of friend and foe. They took the sword, and they 
perished by it. A fleet with an army sailed from the port 
of Attaleia. 

After the lapse of another six centuries, the Western 
nations have again turned their faces to the East, and 
preached a new crusade. From America and Europe they 
stream eastward — soldiers of the Cross, to re-conquer Palestine 
from the disciples of Mohammed, and to win India and 
China for Christ ; but they have returned to the means and 
methods of apostolic times. We send a few earnest believing 
men and women, armed with the sword of the Spirit ; and 
they are waging a successful war against the superstitions 
and idolatries of Asia. 

From Attaleia by sea Paul and Barnabas returned to 
Antioch in Syria, whence they had been sent out on their 
first missionary tour. That great city of the world became 
for a time the centre of effort for propagating the faith of 
Christ. From it the missionaries departed, and to it they 
returned when the work was done. Immediately the Chris- 



312 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



tians of the city assembled to hear the report of their agents. 
It must have been a glad and exhilarating scene. Every 
eye would glisten, and every countenance beam with joy, as 
these pioneers of the gospel rehearsed in the assembly the 
great things that the Lord had done. 

" To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more 
abundantly." This promise was fulfilled in the experience 
of the Church at Antioch. They possessed grace which 
induced and enabled them to give to others ; and their gift 
to others came back in redoubled blessings to themselves. 
From them the mission went forth, and to them the mission- 
aries returned, charged with the blessing of a world that 
was ready to perish. Like swallows returning to their 
nests, the apostles came back to Antioch. The successful 
labourers longed for kindred spirits, who might sympathise 
with them in their sorrows and their joys ; but who could 
rejoice with them over the work accomplished, so well as 
those who had commissioned and sent them out for the 
work ? The success of its own mission was the means of 
quickening the Church. 

The element of novelty in the report which Paul and 
Barnabas brought home was, that God had opened the door 
of faith to the Gentiles. Hitherto, although converts from 
beyond the pale of the J ewish nationality had been freely 
admitted, they had been accepted as individuals, on pro- 
fession of their faith, into communion with believing Jews. 
But now, in Gentile cities, churches were constituted mainly 
of Gentile converts. The door was open, and the gospel, 
overleaping the boundaries of Israel, had obtained access to 
the world. 

The Church at Antioch, while Paul and Barnabas resided 
there after their return from the Greek cities of Asia, seems 
to be no longer a lodge in the wilderness, but one of the 



The Missionaries return to Antioch. 313 

golden streets of the New Jerusalem. There was so much 
of faith, and love, and joy, and that of so long continuance, 
that they might well begin to think they had already passed 
through the great tribulation — that the kingdom in its glory 
would soon appear. But a dark cloud suddenly overshadowed 
the bright ]andscape. " Certain men came down from Judaea, 
and taught the brethren," etc. Alas ! the ailment under 
which we suffer to-day, afflicted the Church in that early 
age. Certain men with narrow superstitious notions 
attempted to thrust their own crotchets down the throats 
of their brethren. How much has the kingdom been 
obstructed in the world by men within the Church attempt- 
ing to impose unnecessary beliefs or practices upon the 
consciences of their brethren? This baleful spirit manifested 
itself at an early date, and it has not yet been cast out. 
These men, acting like all other creatures after their kind, 
did not go to the heathen to proclaim the gospel where it 
was unknown ; they came to those who were already Chris- 
tians, and zealously proselytised in favour of their own 
sectarian watchword. They settled among the disciples at 
Antioch, and taught in a very positive form, that unless the 
Gentiles conformed to the Mosaic ritual, their trust in Christ 
could not save them. The apostles perceived at once that 
this question was vital. Here they must take their stand. 
The entrance of this leaven, they saw, would corrupt the 
whole body. It would introduce another gospel. 

It was one thing for converted J ews to continue for some 
time the practice of the Mosaic ritual, with which they had 
been familiar from their childhood ; and it was all another 
thing to impose that ritual on the Gentiles as if it were 
necessary to salvation. The question was keenly discussed 
for some time at Antioch, between Paul and Barnabas on the 
one side, and the Judaising teachers from Jerusalem on the 



314 The Church in the House. 



other ; but as there was no authority competent to decide 
between the parties, no progress was made. In these cir- 
cumstances, the whole Church resolved to lay the matter 
before the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. Accordingly, 
it was arranged, with common consent, that a deputation, 
including Paul and Barnabas, should proceed to the Mother 
Church of Judasa, to state their case and maintain their 
interests. 

In adopting this resolution they were wisely led. A right 
and authoritative decision on this subject was necessary, 
not only for the immediate peace, but also for the future 
prosperity, and even the ultimate existence, of the Church. 
To have admitted, as authoritatively binding the consciences 
of believers, that something additional to faith in Christ 
crucified was necessary to justification, would have essentially 
changed the nature of the gospel. It would have been to 
draw the pen through the glorious word, " It is finished," 
and to throw despairing sinners back on their own resources, 
as if no Eedeemer had undertaken and accomplished the 
work. We owe much to the watchful faithfulness of these 
primitive missionaries in asserting for themselves and trans- 
mitting to us " the simplicity that is in Christ." 



LXIII. 

THE COUNCIL OF JEEUSALEM. 

'And certain men which came down from Judasa taught the brethren, and 
said, Except ye he circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot he 
saved," etc. — Acts xv. 

WHEN the deputies arrived at Jerusalem, the interest 
in the missionaries and their accomplished work 
among the heathen was so great, that the dispute on a point 
of doctrine was in the first instance thrown into the shade. 



The Council of Jerusalem. 



315 



Even on their way through. Phenicia and Samaria every 
town claimed a meeting, and every church rejoiced in the 
glad news. In the capital, too, the desire to hear of the 
Lord's work predominated over all other claims ; and nothing 
was done towards the adjudication of the appealed case, 
until first the disciples were all satisfied with the details of 
the mission in Cyprus, and throughout the cities of the 
Lesser Asia. When this great appetite was satisfied, then 
the apostles and elders made preparation for an assembly to 
sit in judgment on the question, whether the Mosaic rites 
should be imposed upon the Greek converts. The Christian 
Pharisees lost no time in bringing the question up, and 
pressing for a decision in their own favour. Whether these 
were the same men now returned from Antioch, or others 
resident in Jerusalem, who entertained the same opinions, is 
not made clear. " The apostles and elders came together to 
consider of this matter." The assembly was called to order, 
the case was introduced, and the debate began. After a 
good deal of preliminary discussion, Peter took occasion to 
narrate his own experience, and to express his views. He 
had, at an early date, been Divinely called to carry the 
gospel to Gentile families residing within the territory of 
Judaea; and reasoning by analogy, he held strongly the 
view, that Paul and Barnabas were justified in admitting 
the Greeks on a foreign soil directly and simply into the 
privileges of the Church, without enjoining the observance 
of the law of Moses. The next step was to hear a narrative 
of the facts from the lips of the two missionaries. A great 
impression seems to have been .made by the intelligence 
from foreign parts. "All the multitude kept silence, and 
gave audience to Paul and Barnabas." It is clear that 
besides the apostles and elders, a very great number of 
Christians were present when this report was submitted. 



3i6 



The Church in the House. 



Immediately after the address of the missionaries, and 
while the assembly were under the solemn and tender 
impressions of the scene, James, the Lord's brother, who 
seems to have acted as a kind of president, summed up the 
evidence, and proposed the decision of the court. The pro- 
posal submitted by James was unanimously adopted. It 
unequivocally condemned the demand made by the Pharisaic 
Christians upon the Gentile converts. It maintained for 
the Church an absolute freedom from the bondage of the 
ceremonial law. It enjoined the abstinence from certain 
pollutions which were common among idolaters, but pre- 
scribed no ritual as necessary to salvation. This is the 
charter of the Church's liberty to the present day. No man 
or body of men has a right to prescribe for Christians, as of 
authority, any observance or any form. The conscience is 
not subject to human law. 

It is well worthy of observation in our own day, that 
when a schism was threatened between two portions of the 
Christian Church, the difficulty was overcome, and the breach 
prevented, by refusing to adopt a new and additional term 
of communion. The introduction of new dogmas as essential 
to salvation, necessarily rends the body of Christ. Christians 
must hold and profess all that their Saviour gave them, even 
at the risk of division ; but woe to those who on any pretext 
disturb the brotherhood by imposing any yoke which the 
Master did not impose ! 

The Council at Jerusalem deputed Judas and Silas, two 
of their own number, to accompany Paul and Barnabas on 
their return to Antioch. Xhese two confirmed the testimony 
of the missionaries, and certified the authenticity of the 
letter which they bore. The Christians at Antioch greatly 
rejoiced in the consolidation of their liberty, and the suppres- 
sion of the threatened schism. 



The Council of Jerusalem. 3 1 7 

Silas, one of the deputies from Jerusalem, having become 
interested in the foreign work, remained at Antioch with the 
missionaries when his colleague returned. The work of 
evangelisation was now prosecuted with renewed zeal in the 
great Syrian capital. The foundation of the Church in that 
city must be laid deep and broad, that it may serve as a basis 
for carrying the mission into Europe. But the spirit of 
Paul could not long submit to the conditions of a settled 
ministry. He longed for labour on the foreign field. His 
restlessness was of the Lord for the good of the world. 
It would have been an unspeakable loss to the Western 
nations if this man had grown indolent, and settled down 
in comfortable and honourable employment at home. 

Accordingly, after a period of united effort in Antioch, 
Paul proposed to Barnabas that they should revisit the 
churches which they had planted in Western Asia. Barnabas 
acquiesced heartily in the main features of his brother's 
plan ; but a hitch occurred in the choice of a junior 
assistant. Barnabas preferred Mark, his own nephew ; and 
Paul refused to concur in the choice, on the ground that 
Mark had prematurely deserted the mission in its time of 
need before. This weakness, against which the good Barnabas 
was not proof, has wrought much mischief both in Church 
and State. It has obtained a name, — nepotism, — from the 
very relation in which Mark stood to the senior missionary. 
So greatly has it interfered with every good work in the world, 
that those men have always been held in special honour 
who have been able to resist it, and have appointed the 
fittest men to important trusts, without respect to family 
connections. 

But when a decisive difference of judgment occurred, 
although the altercation was sharp at the moment, these two 
men ultimately adopted a wise resolution, and permanent 



3 1 8 The Church in the House. 

good sprang from incidental evil. Two well-appointed 
missions sprang from one, and the benefit was doubled. So 
the Lord over all makes the wrath of even his own servants 
to praise him, and the remainder of that wrath he restrains. 
How tender and long-suffering is our Father in heaven ! 
Instead of punishing us for our quarrels, he often turns them 
to the furtherance of his own cause. He served himself of 
the weakness, as well as of the strength, of these two primi- 
tive missionaries. 

Barnabas, with Mark as his companion, went by sea to 
Cyprus; Paul, with Silas as coadjutor, travelled overland 
westward through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. 

Thus each of the two senior missionaries on that occasion 
visited the home of his youth ; for Tarsus, the place of Paul's 
nativity, was the chief city of Cilicia. 

Nothing is said of Paul's reception as a prophet in his own 
country. It is evident that he did not linger long about 
Tarsus. Probably he found too much curiosity among the 
people there regarding himself personally. He disliked and 
resented everything that turned the people's attention from 
the Christ whom he preached. He pressed accordingly 
westward through the province, and tarried nowhere long 
till he reached Derbe and Lystra, the scenes of his success 
and his sufferings on his former tour. 

At Lystra on this occasion occurred his first interview 
with Timothy. This young man was already a Christian of 
high reputation in the neighbourhood, and we know that 
the early religious training of the youth had been quickened 
into positive spiritual life by Paul's word spoken during the 
former journey. This must have been a glad and tender 
meeting. When Eunice, Timothy's mother, introduced her 
son to Paul, and informed him of the youth's conversion, the 
spirit of the laborious missionary must have been greatly 



The Gospel introduced into Europe. 319 



refreshed. Here was evidence that his labour and his 
sufferings had not been in vain. At sight of Timothy, Paul 
would thank God and take courage. The history is fresh 
and full of consolation still. It contains encouragement to 
every sower of the good seed, down to the end of the world. 
Many seeds which go out of the sower's sight, take root and 
bear fruit unto eternal life. 



LXIV. 

THE GOSPEL INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE. 

" And they passing by Mysia came to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in 
the night : There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Conie 
over into Macedonia, and help us," etc. — Acts xvi. 8-13. 

HERE the history of the Church reaches a great crisis. 
The missionaries of the Cross pass the narrow sea that 
separates Asia from Europe, and the gospel is introduced 
among the nations of the growing West. In the person of 
" the man of Macedonia," Greece and Rome invite the apostles 
of the Cross. Weary and empty, the warriors, artists, and 
philosophers of the Empire thirst for the living water. 
Europe on the west, as Ethiopia on the south, dumbly 
stretches out her hands to God. 

At Lystra the apostle of the Gentiles had been gladdened 
by the accession of Timothy to the missionary band. At 
that place he had suffered more than elsewhere ; but there, 
as elsewhere, the blood of the martyrs had become the seed 
of the Church. From the seed of his own suffering and 
testimony at that place a goodly fruit had secretly sprung. 
By the time of his second visit the fruit was ripe, and he 
who sowed was permitted also to reap. In the former visit 



320 



The Church in the House. 



he had gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed : now when 
he leaves Lystra, moving westward to new fields, he bears 
his sheaves rejoicing. Faithful is he that promised : the 
, missionary is sustained in his work. " His heart is lifted 
up in the ways of the Lord." Let all men know that the 
sad things which happened to the preacher at Lystra have 
turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. 

Paul invited his son Timothy to join the mission, and 
Timothy consented. Having in his bag a supply of parch- 
ments containing the decrees of the council which refused to 
bind circumcision on the conscience of the Gentile converts, 
Paul was at liberty to yield to the feelings of the Jews from 
motives of expediency ; and so he circumcised Timothy at 
the outset. He had contended earnestly and successfully 
for the liberty of Christians ; but he was not the man to put 
all his rights in force, without regard to circumstances. He 
delighted to concede intenderness to brethren that which he 
would not surrender to the legalists who demanded it as of 
right. He refused to circumcise the Greek Titus at the 
demand of Jewish Christians, because they demanded it on 
the ground that it was necessary to salvation ; but Timothy, 
by the mother's side and by education a Jew, he readily cir- 
. cumcised, in order to smooth his way into the synagogues, 
and enlarge his opportunities of preaching Christ. 

Providentially prevented from prolonging their stay and 
penetrating to the northern provinces of Lesser Asia, they 
soon arrived at Troas, the extreme western point of the con- 
tinent. There Paul's spirit was stirred within him as he saw 
the isles of Greece in the foreground, and the continent of 
Europe in the distance. He longed to preach Jesus and 
the resurrection in Athens, the eye of Greece and the 
centre of European civilisation. 

At Troas a fourth missionary joined the group — Luke, the 



The Gospel introduced into Europe. 321 



beloved physician. From this point the narrative proceeds 
in the first person plural, because from this point the historian 
was personally a witness of the events which he records. 

By two stages they made the passage across the straits. 
The first day's sailing brought them to the island of Samo- 
thracia, and next day they landed on the European shore at 
Neapolis. Thence they journeyed inland to Philippi, the 
nearest city of importance. Here they opened their com- 
mission and began. The Church of Philippi is thus the 
metropolitan Church of Europe. The seed of the kingdom 
imported from the East, first fructified there, and thence 
spread through the neighbouring regions. 

Philippi was a colony. This was doubtless one of the 
reasons why the missionaries selected it as their first station. 
It brought them into contact with the peculiar institutions 
of the Eoman Empire. Located in the provinces, it was 
colonised by native Italians, and enjoyed the privileges of 
an Italian city. Chiefly inhabited by discharged soldiers, 
it was a stronghold of defence on the frontiers. In that city 
the missionaries abode some days, apparently without meet- 
ing an opportunity of prosecuting their work. At this rate 
Paul will not linger long in the place. Life is short ; and 
he must be about his Master's business. But when the 
Sabbath arrived an opportunity occurred. The few Jews 
who resided at Philippi seem not to have possessed a syna- 
gogue ; but a station had been provided in a sequestered 
spot by the side of the river where the worshippers of God, 
whether Jews or proselytes, were wont to meet for prayer. 

Some women resorted to the spot : on this Sabbath, women 
only were there. The Eoman veteran, lording it on the soil 
of Macedonia, would sneer at the humble group as he saw 
them passing to the conventicle ; perhaps a philosophic Greek, 
himself oppressed by the military conquerors, uttered a 



322 



The Church in the House. 



sarcasm at the expense of the women-worshippers. No 
matter : those who win have the right to laugh. These 
women were on the winning side, and a windfall of great 
gain will meet them to-day at the trysting-place. 

Among the worshippers was Lydia, a Gentile proselyte 
from Thyatira in Asia, settled in Philippi as an agent for the 
sale of purple, the staple manufacture of her native place. 
There is abundant evidence from other sources that Thyatira 
was celebrated as a seat of this manufacture. Inscriptions 
have been recently found on the spot, which show that the 
guild of dyers were an important corporation in the city. 
Perhaps Lydia's husband had emigrated on this business, 
and died at Philippi ; and the trade being prosperous, the 
widow had braced herself to the effort of conducting it, until 
her boys should come of age. 

The ancient " Turkey-red " dyers of Thyatira sent their 
goods westward for sale in the Eoman colonies of Greece and 
Macedonia, as our manufacturers send theirs to India and 
China. Each great factory in Asia must have accredited 
agents in the several marts of Europe. Probably the ship 
that bore the missionaries across the strait a week before, 
had carried some bales of purple cloth for the Eoman resi- 
dents of Philippi ; and the heavy goods might at that time 
have been slowly winding up the ascent from the shore to the 
city. Commerce and Christianity in those days, as now, gravi- 
tated to the same centres, and flowed in the same channels. 

This honourable woman prosecuted a lawful industry. She 
went into a far country to earn bread for herself and her 
children ; and in that far country she found the life of her 
souL Labour is honourable and healthful. Merchandise is 
specially honourable when it is conducted with truth and 
righteousness. Merchants are channels through which the 
precious products of the earth flow and reflow, to the places 



Lydia, 



323 



where they are needed, to minister to the necessities and the 
comforts of men. Blessed are those buyers and sellers who, 
like Lydia, find in the intervals of ordinary business the pearl 
of great price. When they have obtained the true riches 
their souls will not again cleave to the dust. When they 
have obtained the peace of God in Christ to keep their hearts 
and minds, they will not be too much oppressed by care, or 
distracted by fluctuations in the market. 



LXV. 
LYDIA. 

u And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, 
which worshipped God, heard us : whose heart the Lord opened, that she 
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was 
baptised, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me 
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she 
constrained us." — Acts xvi. 14, 15. 

ALTHOUGH Lydia attended to her business she did not 
allow it to occupy her whole heart, and absorb all her 
time. She took advantage of the Sabbath to rest awhile from 
labour ; and her time of rest she filled with the worship of 
God, and the society of the good. He who lays out one 
talent well, will get it redoubled soon. A shed for shelter 
in a sequestered spot, and a few Jewish women for fellow- 
worshippers, and probably a parchment containing some of 
the Scriptures as Sabbath lessons — these constituted the 
extent of her privileges. She used her little well, and more 
was given to her. 

Paul and Silas went to the place on that Sabbath-day, It 
was a place for prayer. Perhaps there had never been any 
preaching in it. The women had often met, and prayed, and 



324 



The Church in the House. 



parted, with none to speak to them. They would read the 
Scriptures, and, like the Ethiopian prince, would bend, and 
sigh, and weep over " the Lamb led to the slaughter ; " but 
there was no one near who could answer their question, " Of 
whom speaketh the prophet this ? " They could not under- 
stand, and there was none to guide them. But they per- 
severed. At last a distinguished preacher appeared — the 
greatest of all preachers, led to the spot by the same Divine 
Spirit who conducted Philip from a city of Samaria to the 
desert of Gaza. At last a sermon was preached in the pray- 
ing place, and it took effect. 

One design of this history is to show believers in all lands 
and all ages, that the Eedeemer is near his people still, and 
orders all things for their sakes. The meeting between Paul 
and Lydia was arranged in heaven. When the missionaries 
desired to prolong their stay in Asia, and to evangelise another 
province there, the Spirit suffered them not ; for the same 
reason that at a former time the Spirit had not suffered Philip 
to remain in Samaria, but sent him into the desert. Paul 
was not permitted to remain in Asia, but forwarded hastily 
across to Europe ; for a group of women, convened in a shed 
near the town of Philippi, gave the Lord in heaven no rest 
until he should send them a messenger to open the way of 
salvation. The Hearer of prayer could not bear that cry 
another week without an answer ; and so the missionaries 
must leave all other work behind, and hasten to the spot. 
There some inquiring souls were thirsting like dry land for 
the living water ; and Paul was the vessel chosen to contain 
it and bear it to the spot. 

The Lord opened Lydia's heart so that she attended to 
the things that were spoken by Paul. Although no report 
of the sermon has been preserved, we know well what its 
burden would be. The missionary, not knowing whether he 



Lydia. 



325 



should have another opportunity, would preach Christ 
crucified. He would make plain the way of pardon 
through the blood of the Lamb. Now it is intimated that 
Lydia's heart needed opening ere she could attend to the 
doctrines of grace. Probably the opening was a process that 
had been going on for a long time. From day to day her 
heart longed more for God; from day to day her prayer 
rose more eagerly to the throne. This was the opening : 
she was growing ready for receiving the gospel. 

I think Lydia's heart was opened in some such way as 
the gates of a canal-lock are opened. It is by water coming 
in secretly below, and gradually swelling up within, that at 
length the folding-doors allow themselves to be opened. 
As long as the water presses from above and from without, 
the pressure tends to shut the gates more firmly, rather than 
to open them. The lock keeps itself empty, and resists the 
offer of the water to come in. But when by secret channels 
the interior is nearly filled, then the resistance ceases, and 
the gates are thrown wide. Ah, many an empty heart resists 
the offer of mercy from God ; the offer of that mercy rather 
shuts the gates more firmly ! But when secretly some grace 
finds its way in, and more follows, and the empty space 
gradually fills, then the enmity disappears, and the whole 
soul opens out to Christ. 

It was by receiving some grace within her heart, that 
Lydia was opened to receive more. She was made willing 
in the day of the Lord's power. 

But the Lord has other keys at hand by which he some- 
times opens closed hearts. There are diversities of operations. 
The resistance is sometimes gently overcome by droppings 
silent as the dew ; and sometimes the bolts that barred an 
unbelieving heart are broken by terrible things in righteous- 
ness. Some sorrow may have crushed this industrious 



326 



The Church in the House. 



widow, and so prepared her for taking in the healing balm 
of the gospel. Was her son disobedient, or her foreman 
unfaithful ; or was the current of trade changing its channel, 
and threatening to leave her business to break in pieces like 
a stranded ship ? By any of these operations, or by others 
different from all these, the Lord may have conducted the 
process of opening, so that when the word of the kingdom 
came, it found ready entrance. 

It is good to wait on the Lord, both for our own refresh- 
ing and for the quickening of those whom we love. Watch 
and pray. We do not know when the Bridegroom may pass. 
Let us and ours be ever ready to follow him in to the marriage- 
supper. The Bridegroom passed the place of prayer that 
day on the outskirts of Philippi, and Lydia, with her lamp 
well trimmed, was on the alert to hear his approaching foot- 
steps, and follow him to the feast. 

Even the preaching of Paul did not save unless an opened 
heart attended to it and took it in. In this example of 
primitive preaching, it is made clear that more depends on 
the preparation of the hearer than on the preachers skill. 
The Master, in the parable of the Sower, has clearly shown 
the necessity of two conspiring things — the good seed sown, 
and the ground broken soft to receive it. Alas ! how much 
precious seed falls on the beaten wayside, and bears no fruit, 
when hearers' hearts are trodden hard and smooth by a week 
of cares and pleasures, and the preaching on the Sabbath 
takes no effect ! We have in our day, through God's good 
hand upon us, much good seed ; oh for broken ground ! The 
preparation of the heart is from the Lord. 

Lydia and her house were admitted into the Church by 
baptism. Glad and grateful, she offered hospitality to the 
strangers, and pressed them to accept it. From them, or at 
least through them, she had received an immeasurable 



The Pythoness. 



327 



spiritual good ; and it is the instinct of her new nature to 
take pleasure in imparting temporal things to the servants 
of her Lord. Here, in Lydia's opened heart, rises the spring 
which the Master has provided to supply the temporal wants 
of his ministers, in all lands and all times. 



LXVI. 
THE PYTHONESS. 

" And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a 
spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by sooth- 
saying : the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are 
the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation," 
etc.— Acts xvi. 16-24. 

TTITHEKTO in the experience of the missionaries per- 
il secution had always originated with the Jews. At 
this place, however, they were few and destitute of influence. 
In these parts of the empire the Jews were themselves 
crushed, and so they lacked the power to crush the Christians. 
Here the opposition sprang directly from the Gentiles. 

As they went on some subsequent occasion to the place of 
prayer, a slave damsel, " possessed with a spirit of divina- 
tion," followed them, uttering a remarkable testimony in 
favour of the apostles as the servants of the Most High God. 
This slave was owned by a company of speculators. Great 
gains might be made from the oracles, half mad and ap- 
parently half inspired, which she uttered. A copartnership 
was formed to manage the concern. They bought the slave, 
and farmed out her oracles to the credulous. This was the 
ordinary form of the heathen oracles. A priestess either 
permanently possessed, or artificially thrown into a raving 
condition at certain times, was concealed in the shrine. 



328 



The Church in the House. 



From her mouth ambiguous answers issued, and skilful 
attendants wrote them down for the superstitious inquirers. 
Wicked men fabricated the imposture, and the wicked spirit 
availed himself of the prepared deceit. The people were 
both deceiving and being deceived. Such was the moral 
condition of the community into which the gospel of Christ 
was making its entrance. Such was the corruption of that 
earth upon which the salt was about to be spread. 

The raving Pythoness followed Paul and his company, 
crying out in an excited and passionate voice, but emitting 
an unexpectedly sober and far-reaching testimony in favour 
of the missionaries and their work. Such a witness was 
borne by the possessed man to Jesus when he cried out> 
" I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." These 
testimonies were perhaps expressions of the victims, emitted 
at momentary intervals of freedom contrary to the will of 
the possessing spirit. Perhaps the hope of the captive 
somehow revived at the approach in the one case of the 
Master, and in the other of his servant Paul. So the 
captives lately held in cruel bondage by the Emperor of 
Abyssinia remained quiet, and seemed submissive to the 
tyrant, while no help was near, but changed their tone and 
defied him when the British army appeared at Magdala. 
This enthralled human spirit seemed to speak out with 
courage when deliverance was nigh. 

When this had continued many days Paul was grieved at 
the interruption, and had compassion on the captive. Ee- 
membering the commission given by the Lord to his ministers, 
he cast the evil spirit out by the name and power of Jesus 
Christ. The slave was restored to her right mind. No 
more the wild rolling eye, and no longer the fitful, incoherent 
ravings which the evil spirit had palmed upon the people as 
superhuman inspirations. But the investment of the greedy 



The Pythoness. 329 



shareholders had lost its value. We paid so many thousands 
to her owner for this woman, and now, though we possess 
the legal right to her services as a slave, all that she will 
bring in that capacity will not reimburse us for a tithe of our 
outlay. Here is a predicament. The gains are gone ; Paul 
and Silas are the cause of all the loss. A mob is gathered ; 
a tumult is excited ; an assault is made upon the strangers. 
The apostles are dragged into the forum, and accused before 
the magistrates as the propagators of a faith not recognised 
by Eoman law. 

To give force to their charge, the accusers are careful to 
intimate that the prisoners are Jews. Already the Jews 
had, in a violent tumult, been expelled from Eome, and the 
colony will imitate the metropolis. Both the populace and 
the magistrates will readily receive an accusation against 
men of that hated and persecuted nation. 

Stirred up by this great outcry, and thinking they might 
safely perpetrate any outrage upon Jews, who were beyond 
the pale of the law, the magistrates — two men who exercised 
authority over the colony — stripped the accused, and com- 
manded the lictors to beat them with rods. Many stripes 
were inflicted before the cruel appetite of the mob was 
satiated. It is difficult for us to estimate the severity of 
this punishment. The victim was beaten on the naked 
flesh with thick rods by trained professional executioners. 
The insignia of a Eoman ruler consisted of a bunch of rods 
tied together like a sheaf, and an axe protruding from the 
end of the bundle. The rods symbolised secondary, and the 
axe capital punishment. 

After the scourging the missionaries were cast into prison. 
The magistrates did not prescribe the treatment in detail, 
but they gave a general charge that these men should be 
kept with special security, and left the jailer to adopt his 



33o 



The Church in the House. 



own methods. That officer, with an eye to his own safety, 
shut them in an interior cell of exceptional strength, and 
fixed their feet in the stocks besides. 

On another occasion, when he was himself in chains, Paul 
exulted in the remembrance that the word of God was not 
bound (2 Tim. ii. 9). He meant that God's word to men 
might have free course through the Eoman world although one 
of its preachers was silenced. There is another sense in 
which word may go free although the speaker's body is bound 
in chains. Not only the word that comes from God, but 
also the word that goes to God, is free though the speaker 
be in fetters. Christ is the way, and that way lies open up 
to the Father's presence when the prison-doors have shut 
upon a suppliant. The word which an afflicted child pours 
into the Father's ear was not bound that night in the prison 
of Philippi. The stocks had no power to grasp prayer, and 
hinder it from ascending heavenward. Blessed be God, 
nothing can block the way of prayer. It is long since the 
record was written, " Out of the depths have I cried unto 
thee :" and I suppose, when the books are opened, it will 
be found that most of the cries that have really reached -the 
throne were cries that ascended from the deep. It is when 
you look from the bottom of a well that you descry the stars 
in daylight ; on the surface, with the glare all around, 
although they are there, you cannot discern them. It is 
thus that faith's eye cannot pierce the heavens so well from 
the bright surface of prosperity as from the low, low place 
of some great sorrow. 

We may leave Paul and Silas in the dungeon for the 
night. The Lord that bought them will so reveal himself 
to his witnesses, that the darkness shall be light about them. 



So7tgs in the Night. 



33i 



LXVII. 

*< SONGS IN THE NIGHT. 

" And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God : and the 
prisoners heard them." — Acts xvl 25. 

P BAYING, they hymned God;" for such are the 
words when literally rendered. Prayer and praise 
in the dungeon that night were not two distinct and suc- 
cessive acts. They sang in concert their address to God ; 
and doubtless, like the Psalms of David, the address in- 
cluded both requests for mercy and ascriptions of praise. 
It may, indeed, have been the Psalms of David that they 
sang — both the prisoners had the verses by heart : they had 
not a book, and did not need one. 

God heard their prayer, we know, for he gave it a signal 
answer. But there were also other listeners : " the prisoners 
heard them." One would like to know who these prisoners 
were. Like the contents of other prisons, they were pro- 
bably of various characters and conditions. Some may 
have been the callous habituds of the place ; and some may 
have been men of the highest consideration, awaiting trial 
for political offences. But to all the inmates alike the 
sound of psalms at midnight would seem strange and start- 
ling. It was probably whispered through the prison in the 
evening that two Jews had been brought in — severely 
scourged — accused of teaching some new doctrine regarding 
the resurrection of the dead. Then the tender yet joyful 
song of two blended voices rose on the midnight silence of 
the prison. The wakeful listened, and the slumber ers 
awoke. The hymn was probably in the Greek tongue, and 
the more acute ears would catch glimpses of its meaning. 



332 



The Church in the House. 



That was a night much to be remembered by the inmates 
of the jail. It is altogether probable that some who heard 
that strange psalm-singing were among the Philippian Chris- 
tians to whom Paul subsequently addressed his most affec- 
tionate letter from another prison in Eome. 

" Songs in the night " are the special gift of God, and 
they are well fitted to arrest attention and impress their 
mark. "When there is evidence of peace with God prevail- 
ing over the heaviest of outward troubles, it takes effect on 
the conscience of an observer. It is a great thing to see 
one taken up from a miry pit, and his feet set upon a rock 
and his goings established ; but it is when a new song is 
put into his mouth that many shall see it and shall fear 
and shall trust in the Lord (Ps. xl.) It is specifically joy 
in believing when it bursts forth in great tribulation that 
takes effect on others and wins them to the Lord. 

A lamp when lighted may burn by day, but it is only at 
night that it is seen by the neighbourhood. The darkness 
does not kindle or cause the light, but the darkness reveals 
it and spreads it around. It is thus that consistent joy in 
the Lord, when believers attain it in a time of trouble, be- 
comes an effective testimony for Christ. Not a few owe 
their conversion instrumentally to the light that streamed 
from a saint in the hour of his departure — to the song that 
rose from the pilgrim when he was traversing the valley of 
the shadow of death. 

Thus, though the speakers were bound that night, the 
Word was free ; not only the word that went upward to the 
throne of God, but also the echo of that word, that pierced 
the gloomy partition-walls and sank into the startled ears 
of weary and wretched prisoners. It seemed a roundabout 
road that the Word of the gospel took to reach these motley 
groups of Greek and Latin Gentiles ; but the Word did not 



Songs hi the Night. 



333 



miss its way. There was a dead wall between the apostles 
and their audience, and therefore they did not preach that 
night. But there was no wall between them and the 
Father of their spirits : praying, they hymned God in the 
inner prison, and the prayer sent upward fell down again 
on the other side of the partition, falling there on listening 
ears. In this circuitous method the gospel reached some 
needy souls. 

It is thus that in modern warfare they often overcome a 
fortress which is too strong to be taken by direct assault. 
The wall frowns thick and high between the defenders and 
the assailants. No missile sent in a direct line can touch 
the protected garrison. The besiegers in such a case throw 
their balls high into the heavens ; these fall within the en- 
closure, and do more execution in their fall than they 
could have done by direct impact on the walls. When a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ cannot by direct preaching of 
the gospel reach the ears and hearts of men to subdue and 
win them, he may sometimes effectively accomplish his 
object by prayer and praise. His arrow, going first upward, 
may in its descent wound some conscience and subdue some 
soul. 

Christian families or groups, travelling in Eomish or 
otherwise darkened districts, might in this way scatter 
blessings on their track. They may possibly not possess 
talent or find opportunity for preaching; but if, in the 
evening in the hotel, they should " pray and sing praises to 
God," some prisoners might hear and turn to the Lord. 

But the same lesson admits of application on a greater 
scale and nearer home. Some disciples of Christ have the 
misfortune to dwell in an ungodly neighbourhood. But 
alongside of the misfortune, if they are watchful, a privilege 
lies. If their lamp burn, the surrounding darkness will 



334 



The Church in the House. 



reveal and utilise its light. Satan's prisoners are within 
earshot of Christ's free men. Perhaps a hard partition 
of various prejudice shuts out the ungodly from direct in- 
struction and reproof; but nothing can defend them from 
the indirect stroke which Paul and Silas dealt on their 
fellow-prisoners at Philippi. Let the prayer-hymn rise, soft 
and sweet, from the church in the house when the door is shut; 
and the notes sent up to heaven will drop down again into 
houses where no church meets. The indirect method is the 
best for reaching the rough, ungainly elements that crowd 
and cluster in the centres of modern cities. Some sprinkling 
of " the salt of the earth " in close contact with the corrup- 
tion, would, under God, be the most effectual healer. 

Of late years many instances have occurred of songs being 
given in the night to miners imprisoned by some catastrophe 
in the recesses of a coal-pit. The most touching example I 
know is at once the latest and the -nearest. It occurred a 
few weeks since, on the waters of the Forth estuary oppo- 
site Edinburgh. Three fishermen belonging to Newhaven 
went out in their boat at night to ply their calling. A 
sudden squall upset their boat. All three rose to the 
surface, and laid hold of the capsized boat. Sustaining 
themselves thus above water, they alternately conversed 
on the subject of the preceding Sabbath's sermon, and sang 
hymns which they had by heart. First one, and then another, 
after bidding affectionate farewell, let go through weariness, 
and passed away from suffering into rest. A pilot-boat bore 
down on the wreck in time to save the strongest man, the 
single survivor. From his lips came the narrative of their 
experience while they trod together the valley of the shadow of 
death. In circumstances still more dreadful than those of Paul 
and Silas at Philippi, they also obtained songs in the night. 

By the use of the imperfect tense, it is clearly indicated 



The Jailer. 



335 



in the history that the missionaries were hymning God, and 
the astonished prisoners in other cells pricking up their ears 
to listen, when the crash of the earthquake came. The 
psalm was cut short in the middle of a verse, and the sense 
which the listeners strained to gather, broken off before it 
was completed. The foundations of the prison were shaken, 
so that the doors were thrown open, but the walls were not 
thrown down. The jailer, living in some wing apart, did 
not hear the song, but was awakened by the earthquake. 
Mark here God's mercy in its fulness and overflowing. 
Those w 7 ho cannot or will not hear the still small voice of 
praise, will be aroused by a providential visitation. They 
are not suddenly destroyed, but sharply shaken, that they 
may hear and live. God is long-suffering. If he had cast 
us off and shut us out on our refusal of one invitation, where 
would most of us have been to-day ? He has waited to be 
gracious. When we turned a deaf ear to his Word, he has 
made the earth shake beneath us, that we might be compelled 
to listen for our own life. 



LXVIII. 
THE JAILER. 

"And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the 
prison were shaken : and immediately all the doors were opened, and every 
one's hands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his 
sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would 
have killed himself, supposing that the pi'isoners had been fled. But Paul 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm ; for we are all here," etc. 
—Acts xvi. 26-31. 

THE jailer's first thought was suicide. This was the 
highest point to which heathen culture could soar. 
It was held in high repute among the Romans. In parti- 



336 



The Church in the House. 



cular, at this same town, Philippi, many illustrious examples 
of self-destruction had occurred. In a battle near this place, 
the republicans were finally defeated by the imperial army. 
The vanquished patriots, knowing no way of escape, died in 
great numbers by their own hands. It is quite possible 
that the proximity of these events may have raised suicide 
to an exceptional measure of honour in Philippi. 

The keeper supposed that his prisoners must have escaped. 
Eemembering the special charge connected with the two 
strangers recently committed, he believed that his life was 
forfeited, and determined not to await the humiliation of 
condemnation and punishment. Paul rushes to the rescue, 
eager to save life. Quickly he adopts the most direct and 
efficacious means. " We are all here !" he exclaimed : he 
has hit the nail on the head. He has removed in a moment 
the cause, and the intended effect falls to the ground. The 
safety of all the prisoners removed the jailer's fears : his 
hand dropped from the sword's hilt, and the horrid deed was 
left undone. 

Eelieved now, and relieved completely from his first fear, 
a second instantly seizes him. " He called for a light, and 
sprang in, and came trembling." Trembling ? what makes 
the man tremble now, when his danger is all removed ? 
Not a prisoner has escaped ; the magistrates have not a case 
against him. Why is he still in terror ? 

This is another fear. In a moment, one great fear left 
him, and another, a greater, took possession of his heart. 
It has been suggested by some critics that this is the first 
terror not yet removed, — that the displeasure of his superiors 
is still the cause of his apprehension, — and that his cry, 
" What must I do to be saved ?" pointed to the punishment 
due to the officer who slumbered at his post. Those who 
take this view of the history must be under a strong doc- 



The Jailer. 



337 



trinal bias; for it is a view that is forced and unnatural. 
It is interesting, even as a critical study, to mark how 
manifold and complete is the evidence that his fear and his 
question now point to pardon and peace with God. (1.) Had 
the object of his fear been punishment by his superiors, he 
would not have fallen on his knees before Paul and Silas. 
They had no power to shield him. But he had now the 
presentiment that these men were servants of the Most High 
God, who could show him the way of salvation. On this 
supposition, his act becomes rational and consistent. (2.) 
The answer which they gave him shows what they understood 
I by his question. They enjoyed the best opportunity of 

I knowing what he meant. They saw in his terror his con- 
viction of sin : they so understood his question, as to answer 
it by offering him Christ. (3.) And the man was satisfied 
with the answer he obtained. Assuredly, if he had feared 
for his head on account of the prison being open, to believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ would not have protected him from 
the sentence of his heathen masters on the morrow. 

For his first fear, the appropriate and sufficient cure was 
I the assurance, " We are all here for his second, the appro - 
| priate and sufficient cure was, " Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ." These two distinct and successive consolatioDs 
show what were the two fears which in rapid succession 
had occupied and oppressed his heart. The first fear was, 
i lest he should lose his life for allowing the prisoners to 
escape ; the second fear was, lest he should be cast out of 
t God's presence because of his sin. Although it is not neces- 
s sary that we should be able to trace the way of the Spirit in 
?, the rapid succession of this man's experiences, the difficulty 
it would be much diminished if we should suppose that the 
j jailer was an attentive observer of events, and was acquainted 
v with all the circumstances that led to the commitment of the 

y 



338 



The Church in the House. 



apostles. The things had not happened in a corner. The 
strange persistent cry of the Pythoness, articulately acknow- 
ledging these men as servants of the Most High God, and 
the subsequent change in her attitude and conduct, were 
matters of notoriety in the city. Now, although the jailer 
did not, when he received his prisoners in the evening, 
believe them to be the divinely inspired teachers of a new 
salvation; yet, if he was aware that this character had been 
ascribed to them in the raving responses of the prophetess, 
the shock of the earthquake at midnight would in a moment 
throw a new light over the whole scene. The startling 
announcement which he had heard with incredulity, and, 
perhaps, with sarcastic hilarity, in the sunshine of the pre- 
ceding day, might suddenly flash upon his conscience as 
a truth, when the earthquake had thrown open the doors, 
and yet the prisoners had not made their escape in the 
darkness. 

These things are written for our admonition. The word 
that records them is a die deeply cut, that will receive broken 
hearts in succession till the end of the world come, and 
mould them anew, and turn them out new creatures in 
Christ. The cutting of that die at first was a great work : 
it was engraven when the Son of God was exceeding sorrow- 
ful even unto death. The drops were eating deeply in when 
he cried, " If it be possible, let this cup pass." It could not 
pass ; it was poured out to the dregs. That fiery out-pouring 
cut its way in, and formed the matrix into which melted men 
might afterwards be cast. Only one such type was ever 
formed. None other than " God with us " could endure the 
baptism. Only one such type was made in the dying of the 
Lord Jesus ; but it serves for all the world, and for all time. 
Whosoever will, let him come. Let melted hearts flow in ; 
and forthwith they become new. 



The Jailer. 



339 



This precious answer, " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved," it is not easy to describe and define. 
If you were asked to explain what sunlight is, you would 
not know how to answer. There is nothing better known 
to those who see ; but there is nothing more difficult to make 
known to those who are born blind. 

Manifestly it behoved Paul on this occasion to put into 
his answer the whole marrow of the gospel. If it is possible 
to give in one mouthful the essence of all that he ever 
preached, he is bound to give it here and now. We are 
warranted in assuming that this answer contained all that 
is necessary to salvation, and nothing more. There is not 
too little : there is not too much. It is manifestly a matter 
of life and death ; and it is at his peril if the apostle treat it 
otherwise. The penitent sprang in, and fell down, and cried. 
His cry was, " What must I do to be saved ?" The mis- 
sionaries are bound, as they shall answer to God, to tell the 
man this, and at the moment nothing else. It would have 
been to trifle both with the sinner and the Saviour, either to 
have kept back anything essential, or to have dallied with 
redundant prescriptions. The missionaries are equal to the 
crisis. They spring out as eagerly and sharply as the jailer 
springs in. He hungers : they give him the bread of life. 
He is lost : they offer him the Saviour. They give him 
enough ; and nothing more. Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 



340 



The Church in the House. 



LXIX. 



FAITH AND OBEDIENCE. 




" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and 
thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that 
were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed 
their stripes ; and was baptised, he and all his, straightway. And when he 
had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, 
believing in God, with all his house," etc. — Acts xvt. 81-40. 

CAN" faith save you, then, without works ? Suppose a 
man should "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and 
continue to exhibit a profane and impure life, will he be 
saved by his sound faith in spite of his wickedness ? This 
question does not deserve an answer. It is a foolish ques- 
tion : it assumes an impossibility. 

Suppose one should address to an eminent physician the 
question, Pray, sir, tell me, is the blood necessary to life ? 
and he should answer, It is. Suppose the questioner then 
proceeds to say, But if a great artery is cut, and all the blood 
of the body escapes, and the man still lives and acts with 
undiminished vigour, do you persist in your opinion that the 
blood is necessary to life ? The physician will not answer. 
You have put a foolish question, and he treats it with con- 
tempt. Or, if he answer at all, he will say, First show me a 
living man with no blood in his body, and then I shall con- 
sider the causes of the phenomenon. 

Such treatment he deserves who inquires, Shall I be saved 
if I believe in Christ, though I live in sin ? The supposition 
is an impossibility. To believe in Christ as that jailer be- 
lieved is the death-blow to the reign of sin in your members, 
as the letting out of the heart's-blood puts an end to the life. 
People who, with a whole heart, merely talk on the subject, 



Faith and Obedience. 



341 



may suggest many objections to the doctrine ; but when a 
man is convinced of sin by the secret power of the Spirit, 
and closes with Christ as his sacrifice, substitute, righteous- 
ness, and intercessor, he is at that moment and by that act 
placed in enmity with his own sin as fire and water are at 
enmity. When he is in Christ, he is a new creature. 

Surely, if people would apply their minds to the subject, 
it should not be very difficult to comprehend that actual 
obedience by the man — that is, his good works — must be 
withdrawn from the ground of his hope, and take a place as 
the fruit of his faith. 

Here is a water-channel that has been dry all the summer. 
Straws and leaves and dust have accumulated in it. To 
make all clean and clear again, you do not say, Let a stream 
of water be poured through it from the fountain-head, and 
let all the straws and leaves be gathered up and carried 
away. Let the water from the fountain-head gush into the 
neck of the channel, and it will sweep away the miscel- 
laneous rubbish that encumbered the course. Thus it is in 
the spiritual life. It is not faith and good works together 
that make salvation sure. Faith, when it begins to flow, 
carries works in its train. Faith in Christ as your substi- 
tute, your peace with God, will make short work of the ten 
thousand encumbrances which blocked the channels of your 
heart and life. " This is the victory which overcometh the 
world, even your faith." 

Even in the brief sketch given here of the jailer's conver- 
sion, you see beautiful bunches of fruit quickly ripening on 
the branch as soon as it is in the Vine : " He took them the 
same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and set 
meat before them." 

The current of this man's life is reversed. He could not 
but see that the flesh of his prisoners was lacerated by the 



342 



The Church in the House. 



rods. He did not ask whether they were hungry. As the 
easiest way of securing his own safety, he thrust them into 
the inner prison, and pinioned their feet in locks of iron. 
He then went to bed, and slept so soundly that no psalm- 
singing disturbed his rest. He did not awake till the earth- 
quake awoke him. All care in the evening was for himself ; 
and his selfishness was cruel. Now, when the midnight 
scene has passed, he has no care about himself; all his 
attention is devoted to his prisoners. Not a thought now 
about the possible displeasure of the magistrates, if they 
should learn that he had invited these notable prisoners 
unguarded into his own house. In the evening he was 
heedless of the apostles' wounds and hunger : now he 
washes their wounds and gives them bread. Behold the 
good works that his infant faith was already bearing ! 
These were the first duties that lay to hand. Give me the 
subsequent history of that Christian, and I will show you in 
it other things to match them. Every creature after its 
kind ; and the new creature is not an exception to the rule. 
His faith in the Lord J esus Christ saved him ; and that 
faith instantly reversed the volume of his life, as the rising 
tide of the ocean meets and flings back the river's stream. 

This is a crucial case as to the power of faith in Christ 
to save a sinner. It is parallel with the example of the 
thief on the cross. The man was taken in the very act of 
murder. He intended to take away his own life ; and 
according to the principles which the Lord laid down, the 
intention carried within it the guilt of the deed. Suppose 
now that Paul's cry had been one minute too late — that the 
uplifted arm had fallen, and that the dagger had severed 
a vital artery. Suppose that the wound is mortal, but that 
the life-blood takes an hour to ebb away. It is not con- 
ceivable that the preacher would in that case have made 



Faith and Obedience. 



343 



any change in his terms. The word would still have been, 
" Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
Thus an offer of free pardon would have been made to 
the murderer while the blood of his victim was still 
flowing warm. The murderer might within the hour have 
believed, and at the end of it have entered into rest. There 
is glory to God in the freeness and fulness of his mercy. 

" By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, 
0 God of our salvation" (Ps. lxv. 5). The earthquake was 
the answer to the prayer which Paul and Silas, lying on 
their backs, hymned upward to God in heaven. But although 
the earthquake could open the doors of the prison, it could 
not break the bonds in which the jailer's soul was held. In 
that sense God was not in the earthquake. After the earth- 
quake came a still small voice from the lips of the imprisoned 
missionary; and God was in the voice — God our Saviour. 
Before the power of that voice the heathen's heart gave way, 
and flowed down like water. 

When a man begins to care for his own soul, he instantly 
cares also for those who are dear to him. Knowing this 
law of human nature, Paul provides, in the same breath, 
comfort in regard to himself and in regard to his house. 
On the same terms the jailer's family will be received ; 
and accordingly the word of the gospel was spoken to 
him and to all that were in his house. It is good when 
every family is a small church, and every church a large 
family. 

The magistrates of the city, having been hurried into the 
arrest by the daring attitude of the mob, determined next 
morning to desert the diet and discharge the prisoners. 
Accordingly, an officer was sent to the prison, with an order 
for their release. The jailer joyfully proceeded to execute 
the order of his superiors ; but Paul saw meet to stand on 



344 



The Church in the House. 



his rights, and declined the offer. It is now pretty generally 
acknowledged that Paul did not enjoy the privileges of 
a Eoman citizen in virtue of his birth in the free city of 
Tarsus. Although the city was free, its freedom did not 
confer the dignity of Eoman citizenship on all its population. 
It is more probable that the honour was conferred on some 
of the apostle's ancestors for services rendered to the State. 
It was the custom of Eoman governors so to reward loyal 
services in the provinces. Alarmed at the claim of Paul, 
the magistrates acceded at once to his demand. They came 
in person to the prison, and gave the prisoners a public and 
honourable acquittal. 

This was not a display of pride or of vengeance. The 
apostles did not court suffering. Eather, for their work's 
sake, they desired to avoid it. They saved their lives at 
one time by flight, and at another time by invoking the 
protection of imperial law against the excesses of particular 
magistrates. There is no fanatical rashness in their conduct. 
Their conduct is guided by wisdom and courage and 
common sense. 



LXX. 

"MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WOELD." 

"Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to 
Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews : and Paul, as his manner 
was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of 
the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, 
and risen again from the dead ; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto 
you, is Christ," etc. — Acts xvii. 1-9. 

ANOTHEE missionary journey begins here. Leaving 
Timothy and Luke in charge of the infant church at 
Philippi, Paul and Silas pursued their journey towards the 



u My kingdom is not of this world!' 345 

south-west — towards Athens, the eye of Greece. I think 
the good soldier of Jesus Christ already felt the swelling of 
a sanctified ambition to meet Athenian philosophers on their 
own chosen field. He may, for aught I know, have allowed 
a secret consciousness of power to lead him in that direction. 
It is the instinct of a warrior to seek a worthy foe. If this 
motive wrought in his mind, it is probable that his pride 
was soon crushed ; for he does not seem to have obtained so 
much success at Athens as elsewhere. His epistles to the 
Christians of Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi attest the 
extent and solidity of his work in these places ; but although 
he enjoyed an opportunity of debating with Stoics and 
Epicureans, and of declaiming in Mars Hill, no epistle to 
the Athenians remains to edify the Church. It would 
appear that the soil in which human speculation grew 
rank was not well fitted to receive and nourish the living 
seed of the Word. 

Here the narrative drops the first person and assumes the 
third; this is the only intimation of the fact that at this 
point Luke, the historian, parted company with the mission- 
aries. The first person, indicating the presence of the nar- 
rator, is not resumed until we reach the twentieth chapter. 

They passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, two 
successive stages on the Eoman road that extended from the 
Bosporus to Eome, and came to Thessalonica at a distance 
of about one hundred miles from Philippi. It appears that 
the Jews possessed no synagogue at the intermediate 
stations, and therefore the missionaries made no halt till 
they reached the more important city of Thessalonica. 
There Paul, " as his manner was," entered the synagogue, 
and opened his commission first to the seed of Abraham. 

Three Sabbath-days he reasoned with them out of the 
Scriptures. It is clear from the result that the audience on 



346 



The Church in the House. 



these occasions was not limited to Jews. The apostles found 
by experience that by preaching to the Jews they found the 
readiest access to the Gentiles. The Greeks in great 
numbers, both male and female, came into the synagogue and 
listened to these distinguished strangers. The preacher 
based his discourse on the Scriptures. His method is 
described by the terms " opening and alleging" — that is, 
" opening out and laying down." 

The Old Testament he treated as a nut. He broke the 
shell, opened out the kernel, and presented it as food to the 
hungry. The Jews were like little children who had a 
fruit-tree in their garden, their father's legacy. The children 
had gathered the nuts as they grew, and laid them up 
with reverence in a storehouse ; but they knew not how to 
break open the shell, and so reach the kernel for food. 
Paul acts the part of elder brother to these little ones. He 
skilfully pierces the crust and extracts the fruit, and divides 
it among them. The passage, for example, that Philip 
found the Ethiopian reading on the road, or the passover 
lamb, or the second Psalm, he opened, and from it brought 
Christ. 

This able reasoner laid down a major and a minor ; for 
in Greece he is mindful of his syllogism. (On his way 
from Philippi he had passed Stagirus, the birthplace of 
Aristotle.) 

Major premiss : The Christ expected by the Jews must 
suffer and die and rise again. 

Minor premiss : This J esus whom I preach unto you 
suffered and died and rose again. 

Conclusion : Therefore the Jesus whom I preach unto you 
is the Christ. 

But it is not logic for its own sake ; it is logic grasped and 
used as an instrument to commend Christ to sinners. What- 



" My kingdom is not of this world." 347 

ever method he may adopt (and in that he will become all 
things to all men), he will know no other subject than 
Jesus Christ and him crucified. They speak of successors 
of the apostles ; their best successors are those who walk in 
their steps. 

The result is, that some Jews believed, and a great 
multitude of Greek proselytes and not a few chief women. 
While a remnant of the chosen seed is gathered everywhere, 
the kingdom is in the main gliding over to the Gentiles. 
Another feature of the success is, that almost everywhere the 
higher and more educated classes are attracted. In the great 
Greek city of Thessalonica many ladies of the highest social 
standing were arrested and converted. This doubtless gave 
the gospel a home in the place after the missionaries were 
obliged to leave it. 

" But the Jews which believed not," etc. Again a conflict. 
Woe is me that I should everywhere be a man of strife ! 
There is much to make the missionary weary, and induce 
him to fling up his commission in disgust. But these men 
were forewarned, and so forearmed. They knew that, like 
their Master, they came not to give peace on the earth. 
Wherever the two kingdoms came in contact, there was 
conflict. No cross, no crown. 

The army that assails the mission here is an allied host. 
It consists of two different but confederated elements — 
of the Jews who believed not, and of certain lewd fellows of 
the baser sort. These two do not look with kindly eye on 
each other, but they unite to oppose a common enemy. 
This is not a new experience. Herod and Pilate become 
friends when Christ must be crucified. Pharisee and 
Sadducee, at daggers-drawn on ordinary occasions, combine 
to compass the death, first of the Master, and then of his 
servants. 



The Church in the House. 



The unbelieving Jews allied themselves to the mob of the 
market-place, in order to silence the testimony of the 
apostles. In different ages and countries tyrants of the 
ruling class have had recourse to the rabble whenever they 
have found it necessary to stifle the reprover's voice. The 
seething caldron of a large city always casts up a quantity 
of such scum. A multitude swarm about the streets, lacking 
not only character but even clothes. Persecutors have 
frequently found a use for these offscourings. Christians 
should have their eyes on the same class for another purpose. 
They might be turned to a better account. If they were 
won and sanctified, they might swell the ranks of the 
white-robed when Christ comes to be glorified in his saints. 

It was by these same instruments that the Jewish rulers 
in Jerusalem compassed the death of Christ. They engaged 
the mob to create a tumult, and thereby intimidated the 
governor. Crucify him ! crucify him ! from a surging, ex- 
cited multitude was a formidable cry for a governor with a 
troublesome province on his hand and a small garrison at 
his disposal. " If they have persecuted me, they will also 
persecute you ; " and the persecution of the servants follows 
the type of that which the Master endured. 

It is a remarkable cry that was raised before the magis- 
trates of Thessalonica — " These that have turned the world 
upside down have come hither also." The rumour of the 1 
great effect produced by the preaching of the gospel in other 
places must have reached the city. After making allowance 
for the tendency to exaggeration in such circumstances, we 
find enough remaining to show that the wave of success 
already accompanying these two witnesses threatened to 
shake the foundations of society, and overturn the old estab- 
lished religions of Europe. 

Another cry — "These all do contrary to the decrees of 



" My kingdom is not of this world!' 349 



Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus/'— is 
identical with that which was employed against Christ him- 
self. These degenerate Jews did not comprehend their own 
Scriptures — did not understand the kingdom which the 
prophets proclaimed. The Son of David reigns, but reigns 
over an unseen kingdom. His own word is, " The kingdom 
of God is within you." His reign, having a different sphere 
and character, may have free scope ; it will never come into 
collision with lawful human governments. The Lord's own 
words, "My kingdom is not of this world," remain a perennial 
rebuke to all persecuting governments on the one hand, and 
all political ecclesiastical organisations on the other. 

Magnetism and gravity act at the same place and the 
same time, but do not come into collision with each other. 
Each of these powers pervades all the earth's surface ; each 
is supreme everywhere for its own objects ; the one does not 
stand in the other's way. There is not less of gravity on 
any given spot because magnetism has free scope there. If 
one of these were subordinated to the other, the system of 
the world would be destroyed. This might help us to con- 
ceive of Christ's spiritual authority reigning with absolute 
sway over spirits, and yet not interfering with any legiti- 
mate function of civil government. 

This question is assuming greater breadth and prominence 
in our day. It is rising not only in this country, but all 
over Europe. It is abroad in Italy and Germany. That which 
was the turning-point at the crucifixion of Christ comes up 
again for solution, and men must work its solution out. They 
overpowered it in Pilate's judgment- hall. But they made 
a mistake when they buried that small, and to their vision 
scarcely perceptible atom ; to bury it was not to get rid of 
it for ever, for it is a living seed, and so it rises again. 

Churchmen must learn to obey Christ without encroach- 



35o 



The Church in the House. 



ing on the divinely appointed supremacy of civil government 
in its own domain ; and civil rnlers must learn to leave the 
kingdom of Christ in the world absolutely free. 



LXXI. 

BEREAN NOBILITY. 

" And the brethren immediately sent away Panl and Silas by night unto Berea : 
who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more 
noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all 
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things 
were so." — Acts xvii. 10, 11. 

JASON and his companions were admitted to bail. The 
tumult for the time subsided. The brethren sent Paul 
and Silas away by night to Berea ; for they were free to act 
on their Master's rule, "When they persecute you in one 
city, flee ye unto another." 

That night- journey demands a passing notice. They 
started at night in order to escape the rage of the persecutors ; 
but they could not reach Berea in one day's march, for the 
distance was about sixty miles. The road led at first west- 
ward, through a great plain, and then ascended the mountain. 
Berea lies on the eastern slope of the Olympian range. It 
is still a town of 20,000 inhabitants, and contains some re- 
mains of Greek and Roman buildings. Behold the two mis- 
sionaries, with their guide, toiling along by night, eager to 
reach another station, where they might work and win before 
the wave of persecution should overtake them. 

It is instructive to compare the occupation of this night 
with that of the last night of which the history is recorded 
— the night in prison at Philippi. Then they sang praise 
and prayer. They were enclosed within prison-walls, and 



Berean Nobility. 



351 



fastened to the ground. What could they do? All was 
bound except their lips, and with these they sang. But this 
night, when they had escaped from the persecutors, in 
Thessalonica, they did not sit down and sing. There, worship 
was work ; here, work was worship. Generally the history 
tells what was done in the day-time ; but in these cases the 
events of the night are mentioned because these events con- 
cerned the King. In the first of these nights, the men, 
finding work impossible, worshipped ; and that act of wor 
ship turned out a successful work, for numbers were thereby 
won to Christ, and a footing for the gospel obtained in a 
heathen city. In the second night, when they could neither 
sleep nor work, the missionaries marched ; and the march 
became the means of life from the dead to many in Berea, 
for by that sudden night-march the preachers got the start 
of their enemies, and had laid the foundations of a permanent 
edifice, before the Jews of Thessalonica could discover the 
direction of their flight and take measures for opposing them. 

In Berea, they immediately addressed themselves to the 
Jews in their synagogue. "These were more noble than 
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with 
all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily 
whether these things were so." 

There is a heraldry, it seems, in the kingdom of God as 
well as in the kingdoms of this world. Our Kings throne, 
too, is encircled by a high-born nobility. In the Scriptures 
you will find the record of their deeds and the patent of their 
rank. The disciples of Christ are taught neither to vilify 
nor extol a temporal nobility. Christianity is not revolu- 
tionist. It is so deeply occupied with an inner revolution 
for eternity, that it cannot bestow any attention on the 
political revolutions of time. As it will not spend its 
strength in setting these thrones up, neither will it turn aside 



352 



The Church in the House. 



to pull them down. It leaves them precisely where it found 
them, and passes on in pursuit of its own aim. 

If we could obtain a view of this earth from a great height 
in the heavens, the mountains would not appear very high, 
the valleys would not .appear very deep. The inequalities 
on the earth's surface, which from our present view-point 
seem great, would disappear, and all would be reduced to a 
level. Precisely the same law rules in the spiritual sphere. 
When any one attains spiritually a great elevation, the 
differences of social condition, which bulk largely in other 
men's eyes, almost altogether disappear. To one who looks 
on the community as from the throne of God, the artificial 
distinctions which prevail in society seem to be blotted out : 
in his view, all are low until grace raise them up. 

But distinctions there are, notwithstanding — distinctions 
between one man and another — -real, deep, permanent. 
Some are slaves when seen from the higher view-point, and 
some are free ; some are dead in sins, and some have been 
raised to newness of life ; some are rich in grace, while 
others are wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, 
and naked ; some are high-born, and some low. 

These were more noble — high-born. Two things go to 
constitute nobility in its temporal form : first, the sovereign's 
choice in its origin; and second, the actual birthright of 
each individual noble in successive generations. The spring 
of all lies in the good pleasure of the king. The same 
feature is found in the nobility of the heavenly kingdom. 
Abraham was one of the multitude "beyond the flood" 
— on the east of the Euphrates. He was of plebeian blood 
and training. His tribe served idols in the rich plain of 
the Tigris, and lived without God in the world. " He was 
sovereignly chosen and called. He received the patent of 
his nobility in the specific promise of the King eternal ; and 



Berean Nobility. 



353 



large possessions were bestowed upon him for the support of 
his dignity. To him, many generations afterwards, kings 
and nobles proudly traced their pedigree. 

At a later period of the empire, when the King's Son was 
sojourning in this province, he called others — certain common 
plebeian men — and conferred on them the patent of nobility. 
Some fishermen were at that time raised from the ranks. 
In Eome they call Peter a prince : the title is not amiss, 
although they apply it falsely. About the same time some 
tax-collectors were admitted into the princely rank; and 
after the King's Son had returned to the seat of government, 
a noted rebel was first taken captive, and thereafter made a 
noble at his conqueror's court — an ambassador to the nations 
in the service of his reconciled King. 

Further, each noble of this kingdom is himself born to his 
title and estate. Mcodemus, though a son of Abraham by 
his first birth, must himself be born again ere he could enjoy 
the privileges of a peer. 

But there is one broad distinction, which should be care- 
fully observed, between the kingdoms of this world and the 
kingdom of Christ, in regard to the manner in which peers are 
made — in regard to what constitutes nobility. In the king- 
doms of this world there are two distinct methods; and of the 
whole body of the peerage, some are admitted in one way, 
some in the other — none in both. Some are called from 
other classes by the free election of the sovereign, and some are 
born into their dignities. In the kingdom of Christ, every noble 
unites in himself both these rights. He is chosen from without 
into the circle of the princes ; and he is also born into the 
family. It requires both the earthly things to represent the 
heavenly. One represents the election by the sovereignty of 
God, and the other represents the actual change which in 
the regeneration passes upon the heart and life of the man. 

z 



354 



The Church in the House. 



These two represent salvation respectively on its upper 
and its under side, as the parable of the Good Shepherd and 
the parable of the Prodigal represent it. The upper side of 
the seal contains the legend, " The Lord knoweth them that 
are his;" and the under side, "Let every one that nameth 
the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 

Two characteristic features of the Berean nobility are 
recorded, in order that we in the end of the world may be 
able to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious ; 
"They received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so." 
These qualities are distinct from each other, and yet are so 
bound together as to constitute a pair. The one is a tender, 
childlike receptiveness for revealed truth; the other is a 
manly independence of judgment. Their hearts drank in 
readily the water of life; but their understandings sifted 
the doctrines that were preached, and tried them by the law 
and the testimony. 

1. Their hearts were receptive. In this matter the Jews 
of Berea were favourably distinguished from those of Thessa- 
lonica. Those who, like Saul before his conversion, had a 
knowledge of the law, and a full stock of variegated merits, 
did not so readily open to receive the gospel. They were 
like a field that is soaked and soured with stagnant water : 
when a shower falls on such a field it trickles off again. It 
is the dry land that drinks in the rain. 

The distinction is similar to that which the parable 
makes between the good ground and the hard beaten way- 
side. The seed that fell on both places was the same. It 
was the quality of softness in the one that rendered it 
receptive, and the quality of hardness in the other which 
caused it to reject the seed. Here lay the cause of the 
difference disclosed in harvest. As more depends on the 



Berean Nobility. 



355 



condition of the soil than on the skill of the sower, so more 
depends on a receptive spirit in the hearers than on the 
peculiar ability of the preacher. There is a remarkable 
analogy, too, between the immediate cause of receptiveness 
in the cultivated ground on the one hand, and the immediate 
cause of the receptiveness of a human heart on the other. 
A broken, a contrite heart is the ordinary expression for a 
humble disposition of soul, crushed by a sense of sin, and 
thirsting for the living water. It is where the ground is 
broken small that the seed finds its way into the soil and 
the grain is gathered in harvest ; in like manner it is in those 
who have been bruised by conviction of sin, and as it were 
melted by the mercy of God, that the offer of the gospel goes 
home, and the fruits of righteousness ripen apace. 

2. The second characteristic of Berean nobility is the 
exercise of private judgment. They searched the Scriptures 
daily, whether these things were so. This short, simple 
intimation puts to shame the sophistry with which Eome 
has for ages striven to conceal the Word of God from the 
people. Charity is popular in our day, and "great is the 
company of them " that preach it ; but we must see well to 
it lest we make a fatal mistake as to what is charity. 
Charity is not an equal regard for truth and falsehood, — for 
light and darkness. Charity is love; but how can you 
really love your brother if you do not loathe and denounce 
that which destroys him? You cannot love your brother, 
and fondle the serpent which is stinging him to the second 
death. The political sentiment which in the name of 
charity supports the Papacy is a delusion. It is a dream 
from which political men will be awakened by some rude 
shock. It is a spurious liberalism that under any pretext 
pets and feeds the greatest enslaver of mankind. It is 
noble, says the Spirit of God, for private men to search the 



356 The Church in the House. 



Scriptures daily in order to determine thereby the truth or 
falsehood of any doctrine that may be proposed for their 
acceptance : for this noble act the Eomish hierarchy has 
everywhere persecuted even unto death. 

The term rendered " searched " in the text indicates that 
they pored over the page ; and after having read a sentence, 
returned to traverse the lines again, in order that the track 
of the sense might be more deeply graven on their minds. 
They avoided the two extremes of easy credulity and hard 
unbelief. Some stand rigid against the truth and yield not 
at all; others bend easily before every doctrine that is 
plausibly presented, but bend as the willow bends to the 
breeze, taking every position but keeping none. 

It is a general law of human nature that what comes 
lightly, goes lightly. What we gain by a hard struggle, we 
retain with a firmer grasp, whether it be our fortune or our 
faith. Those men who have obtained great wealth without 
any trouble or toil of their own, often scatter it, and die in 
poverty. It is seldom that the man who gains a fortune by 
gigantic labour wastes the wealth he has won. In like 
manner, give me the Christian who has fought his way to 
his Christianity. If it is through fire and water that he has 
reached the wealthy place, he will not lightly leave his rich 
inheritance. 



LXXII. 

SOME AN HUNDKEDFOLD. 

" Therefore many of them believed ; also of honourable women which were 
Greeks, and of men, not a few." — Acts xvii. 12. 

THEY believed. The word is little ; the thing is great-^ 
is life from the dead. By this one step they passed 
from a state of condemnation to a state of peace with God. 



Some an Hundredfold. 



357 



They escaped from a house built on the sand before it fell, 
and took refuge in the house that was built upon the rock. 
The moment before, they were without Christ, and therefore 
without hope in the world : the moment after, they were in 
Christ, and heirs of eternal life. The step they took that 
day separated them conclusively from all the wicked, and 
allied them for ever with the true and pure. Their life is 
hid now with Christ in God : none shall ever be able to 
pluck them from their Kedeemer's hand. 

If any should ask, How could interests so vast turn on 
a point so small ? How could the act of a moment, — the 
secret quiver of the soul's affection in transferring itself to 
the Saviour, — how could this mental act become the turning- 
point between woe and weal for eternity? All decisive 
turnings are made on points. It is on sharp points that 
great magnitudes can best be turned. He was born : he 
died. These are small points ; and how vast the issues that 
move on them ! People speak vaguely about the poles of 
the globe : these poles are mathematical points ; yet how 
huge is the mass that spins round upon them from age to 
age ! 

Many believed. A swelling of spiritual life sometimes 
comes over a city or a country, as the tidal wave comes over 
the ocean, — lifted and led, in both cases, by a distant power 
in the heavens. Therefore many believed : the effects are 
distinctly traced to their immediate cause. The minds of 
the listeners inclined and opened to the word of life, and 
what they received lovingly they examined diligently. The 
symptoms that preceded and portended the revival were, a 
bent of mind toward the preached word, and a daily 
reverent searching of the Scriptures. When we see the 
same symptoms in any place, we may confidently expect a 
similar enlargement. 



358 



The Church in the House. 



Interesting and instructive is the specific enumeration of 
classes that were on that occasion won to the Lord, " both 
of Greek women of good station and of men not a few." 
Tour distinct characteristics of the persons who were con- 
verted at that time in Berea have been counted worthy of a 
place in the record, and should therefore be counted worthy 
of our special study. 

1. Greeks were converted. There is no respect of persons 
with God ; all are in his sight equally lost in sin, and all 
are alike precious when redeemed. Expressly in Christ's 
kingdom there is neither Jew nor Greek. Yet circum- 
stances may be such that the conversion of a Greek gives 
more joy to an apostle's heart, and does more for the spread 
of the kingdom, than the conversion of a J ew. As a rule, 
the first converts in every city had hitherto been of the seed 
of Israel. But Paul and his companions, although they 
began their work in the synagogue, were aware that their 
mission was to the world ; they rejoiced accordingly with a 
peculiar delight over the first-fruits of the Gentiles. These 
Greeks who believed in Berea were in themselves precisely 
as precious as the same number of Jews, and no more ; but 
over and above the worth of individual souls, their conver- 
sion opened a door by which the gospel might enter a new 
and spacious field. This, to the weary labourers, was like 
the breaking forth of waters. The barrier at one spot had 
given way, and a gap was formed in the dike by which the 
tide might enter and inundate the land. To the apostles 
those successes were sweetest which seemed earnests and 
promises of more. 

2. Both men and women. God made them in marvellous 
wisdom for each other ; together they have gone away from 
him ; it is a gladsome sight when they return in company. 

It is sad when the sexes are separated by that partition 



Some an Hundredfold. 359 



which divides the kingdom of God from the world lying in 
wickedness — separated so that while the one stands safe 
within the narrow gate, the other is still groping blindfold 
against the blank wall on its outer side. The separation 
takes place on both sides. There is not favour to one and 
frown to another. As there is neither Jew nor Greek, so 
there is neither male nor female, for partiality to either, in 
the kingdom of Christ. Sometimes the husband or brother 
truly seeks and finds the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness, while the wife or sister seems content to abide by the 
stuff of this world as the soul's portion. The cares of this 
life frequently become the specific means w 7 hereby the 
spiritual life is overlaid and smothered in the mothers and 
daughters of a house. On the other hand, sometimes the 
women of a family are devoted to Christ, while the men are 
too philosophic or too self-indulgent to be troubled with 
spiritual anxieties. 

Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and 
mothers, come all, and come in company to Christ. Be 
heirs together of the grace of life— helps-meet in the rugged 
path — brothers and sisters in the whole family of God — 
entrants together into the joy of the Lord. 

3. People of high standing, respectable people, were con- 
verted. And is there any peculiar ground for gladness 
there ? Are the upper ten thousand more precious in God's 
sight than the myriads who occupy a lower place ? No ; 
this word comes from heaven, and does not shape itself by 
the fashion of the world. But though poor and rich are 
equally precious, there are times and circumstances in which 
conversion in high places is more noted and more note- 
worthy than conversion in a low place. If for nothing else, 
the early disciples valued it as men value certain gems, on 
account of its rarity. The common people heard the Master 



360 



The Church in the House. 



gladly, but the rulers held aloof and boasted that they were 
not tinged with any trust in Jesus of Nazareth. On that 
very account there was great joy in the circle of the 
disciples when a magnate joined their band. Even the 
Lord longed to have some of them, and looked fondly on 
the young rich man who came running and kneeling and 
calling him Master. 

Another reason why people of high station are warmly 
welcomed into the company of Christians is, that their 
influence is greater ; and so, when their talents are con- 
secrated to the Lord, a larger gain accrues to the kingdom. 
If you looked from aloft upon a dry and parched land you 
would be glad to see a well rising even on its lowest place ; 
but you would be gladder if you saw a spring leaping from 
the ground on its loftiest ridges, for, from its position it 
could be employed to irrigate a larger portion of the land. 

Great temptations beset the wealthy and noble ; the cords 
that bind them to the world are very strong ; a Jouder song 
of praise, therefore, bursts from the lips of the free when one 
of these is liberated. It is more glory to the Lord, and 
greater gain to his cause in the world. 

4. Many were converted. The emphatic phrase is, " Not 
a few/' There is a strange appetite for more in a Christian's 
heart. It continually cries " Give, give/' That cry is never 
silenced, that appetite never satiated, till the whole world is 
won. This feature of a Christian's new nature is inherited 
from Christ. He opened his mouth wide for the food which 
he loved. When many came and followed him, he continued 
to invite the rest as eagerly. When his ministry was nearly 
finished he wept in agony over Jerusalem, because few of its 
teeming multitude would accept pardon and eternal life at 
his hand. 

There is a species, of liberality in vogue at present which 



Paul's arrival at Athens. 



361 



denounces indiscriminately all proselytism. It is quite true, 
we confess, that much impure zeal has been exhibited in the 
name of Christ. Woe to those, whatever name they assume, 
who compass sea and land to make a proselyte, and, when 
they have got him, steep him deeper in the same uncharitable 
fanaticism that gives energy to their own efforts. There is an 
evil proselytism, even as there is a spirit of darkness who 
assumes the robes of an angel of light. Every case must be 
judged on its own merits : it is irrational to denounce all 
proselytising indiscriminately. There will, and should, and 
must be a proselytising spirit in every true Christian. What 
do men mean by condemning it in the lump ? Jesus Christ 
was a proselytiser, and all are like him whom he has 
inoculated with his love. 



LXXIII. 

PAUL'S AKRIVAL AT ATHENS. 

" And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea : 
but Silas and Timotheus abode thei*e still. And they that conducted Paul 
brought him unto Athens : and receiving a commandment unto Silas and 
Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while 
Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw 
the city wholly given to idolatry." — Acts xvit. 14-16. 

BEEEA seems a very paradise for these missionary men. 
There was eager attention to the gospel ; there were 
many conversions, and as yet there was no sign of any per- 
secution springing up. But the persecution that did not 
spring on the spot was imported from a distance. " When 
the Jews at Thessalonica had knowledge that the Word of 
God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also 
and stirred up the people." The place was soon made too 
hot for Paul. As being manifestly the chief, he was more 



362 



The Church in the House. 



obnoxious than his two younger associates ; for when it was 
found necessary to hurry him off from the place to preserve 
his life, Timothy and Silas ventured to remain behind to carry 
on the work which had been so hopefully begun. 

The brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were, to the sea. 
It has been generally thought that stratagem was employed 
here ; that they started in the direction of the sea-coast, to 
lead the persecutors on a false scent, and afterwards took the 
road to Athens. But it is more probable that the transaction 
was simpler. As there is no mention of any place on the 
way between Berea and Athens, there is some ground to infer 
that the journey was not made by land ; that they embarked 
at Dium, near the base of Olympus, and landed at the Piraeus. 
In the circumstances, it is probable that the route and the 
destination were not determined until they were far on the 
way. When they left Berea there was no time to consider 
their course. The thing that pressed was to get Paul away 
from a place of danger ; out of Berea with all haste for the 
missionary's life, and when we are at a safe distance we shall 
consider where we shall go next. 

Paul seems on this occasion to have been passive in the 
hands of his friends. They who lived in the country knew 
best both the danger that threatened and the means of escape. 
They will manage the whole business. The journey to Athens 
was no plan of his. " They that conducted him brought him 
to Athens." Arrived at this celebrated city, Paul seems to 
have taken the measure of it at the first glance. Before his 
conductors had left him to return to their home, he had made 
up his mind and determined the plan of the campaign. In 
view of Athens, Berea diminished in importance as a mission- 
field. He had left Timothy and Silas there ; but as soon as 
he saw Athens, he sent a message back with the returning 
escort, requesting his associates to join him without delay. 



Paul's arrival at Athens. 



363 



Those two labourers were digging a well on the spot where 
he left them — digging a well, and getting water — the water 
of life, to refresh a parched neighbourhood ; but he hesitates 
not to call them away from their work ; for the well that they 
were digging was in the lowly plain, and though they obtained 
sweet water there, that water could not flow far for the benefit 
of others. Here, however, and now, Paul had discovered a 
spot on an exceeding high mountain, where a well might be 
hopefully pierced, and if they should obtain water there, it 
would, in virtue of the height of its site, flow far and wide 
over the nations. Accordingly this master- workman recalls 
his hands from the successful but less important mission in 
Berea, that they might strike home for the Lord in the very 
heart and head of the civilised world. 

The plan was that Paul should wait at Athens till his 
associates arrived, and that then they should begin the work 
in company. It is not easy for a solitary missionary to begin 
alone in the high places of the earth to bear a testimony for 
God. Poor Jonah was so overwhelmed by the prospect of 
standing unsupported in Nineveh to denounce God's judg- 
ments against the people's sin, that he rebelled and ran 
away, that he might escape the hard and scathing ordeal. 
As J onah at Nineveh, crying out, Yet forty days, and Nineveh 
shall be destroyed — as Jonah at Nineveh was Paul at Athens, 
proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection. It is too much for 
one man alone to dare and do. He will wait in silence the 
arrival of his friends, and then, shoulder to shoulder, three 
stronger than one, they will stand, and stand up for the 
Lord, and stand fast against the adversary. Bid them come 
both and come quickly, said the eager, impetuous apostle to 
his escort, as they turned to retrace their steps toward Berea ; 
" and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus, 
for to come to him with all speed, they departed." 



364 The Church in the House. 



Away went the escort out of his sight, and Paul began his 
part of the programme — that is, to wait. He will wait at 
Athens till Timothy and Silas should arrive. But ah ! this 
is not a man of the waiting kind. He had undertaken more 
than he could perform. The spirit of the prophet was not 
subject to the prophet. Paul was not a good waiter, and 
Athens was not the place for Paul to wait idle in. It was 
hard to begin alone his testimony for Jesus in that Greek 
capital, and therefore he laid the plan of obtaining associates ; 
but it was harder to look on in silence where Satan had his 
seat, and therefore he broke through the plan that he had 
laid. He burst through all bonds and began. " Now while 
Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, 
when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore 
disputed he," etc. 

He saw the city given over to idolatry ; and felt a stirring, 
a thrilling through his soul, like the vibrations of a harp when 
the wind breathes on its strings. Not only were these two 
connected in point of time ; they were connected as cause 
and effect. The sight which he saw without caused the 
emotion that he experienced within. The idolatry of the 
city kindled this missionary's soul into a paroxysm of holy 
zeal which could not be restrained. 

Two things are observable and memorable in connection 
with what Paul saw in Athens — two things very needful 
and very profitable to supply us with fixed foundation 
principles of action in these latter days. 

First, this great and true man — this real philosopher, who 
both feared God and regarded man, was arrested and trans- 
fixed by the idols of Athens, so that he noticed not or regarded 
little the many other sights which the city contained. This 
intellectual capital of Greece presented in those days many 
attractions to men of cultivated taste ; and Paul's taste was 



Paul's arrival at Athens. 



365 



cultivated. It was not that he valued marble statues less, 
but living men more. He was not blind to the beauties of 
Greek architecture, or deaf to the music of the Greek tongue ; 
but he felt the expulsive power of a deeper affection, that 
occupied his heart, and drove its rivals from the field. Ah ! 
he is not the weak but the strong man who regards immortal 
souls as transcendently more important than fine arts. This 
man is not carried away by vanities, but governed by sound 
reason. Accordingly, he scarcely observes the curiosities 
that strangers went to see in Athens ; he was taken up 
with that which obtruded itself on the traveller's eye at 
the corner of every street — idols, idols everywhere ; and 
living men boasting themselves to be God's offspring, bow- 
ing down before images of wood and stone, graven by art 
and man's device. 

Another thing observable in the missionary's view is, that 
he considered the idolatry of the Athenians to be a grave and 
grievous thing. This is not one of those frivolous travellers 
who think idolatrous rites very picturesque, and very becom- 
ing, and very harmless. We have fallen upon an age when 
shallow men, in order to prove themselves deep, count it 
needful to laud the interesting and innocent religious cere- 
monies of the heathen on their native soil, and to deprecate 
Christian missionaries as intruders, who make the people 
worse. A sort of crusade is at the present time waged against 
Christian missions by a section of the students of philosophy 
and nature. It cannot deal heavy blows, or continue long 
to deal any blows at all; for it is false in its facts, and 
unphilosophically presumptuous in its pretensions. 

But, meantime, observe how this great and strong man 
regarded the matter. Idolatry was in his sight the height of 
all abomination. It was dishonour done to the living God, 
and degradation to intelligent human souls. It was, more- 



366 The Church in the House. 



s a 



over, the fruitful parent of all vice. The law of God is 
living and eternal thing. The law, like Christ, is not divided 
so that a man can take a part, and neglect the rest. The 
second table hangs dependent on the first. When the soul 
is debauched by the worship of a false god, the body is 
abandoned to every species of corruption (Rom. i.) 



LXXIV. 

A CITY GIVEN TO IDOLATRY. 

" Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when 
he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." — Acts xvn. 16. 

THE city was wholly given to idolatry— full of idols. 
There is historical confirmation of the description from 
many sources. In the public opinion of those days Athens 
was considered to be supereminently a city of idols. Art 
had attained a higher state of perfection there than elsewhere. 
Their architecture and sculpture were not equalled in that 
day — have perhaps not been equalled in our day. This pre- 
eminence in art, in connection with the exquisite taste which 
was a general characteristic of the people, greatly increased 
the public zeal in the worship of idols. When fine art, of 
the highest order of excellence, is consecrated to a false and 
sensual worship, it exerts a great power for evil. Modern 
Rome is in this respect like ancient Athens. The idolatry 
of the Papacy is fostered by the fine arts, especially music 
and painting. Art has been the sword-arm of Rome for 
modern conquests. In this country of late years Popery has 
made little progress, except among the ranks of the aristo- 
cracy. It is especially among the classes whose education 
lies more in aesthetics than in thought that converts have 
been won. As in ancient Athens, the imagination is capti- 



A City given to Idolatry. 



367 



vated by voluptuous art ; and when the spirit is thus enslaved, 
it may be led over into the coarsest idolatry ! This intoxica- 
tion of the soul is not unlike the intoxication of the body, 
whether you look to its soft, gradual approaches — or to the 
giddy, swimming pleasure to which the captive abandons 
himself — or to the abject degradation to which the intoxicated 
submits when he is given over to the mysterious witchcraft. 

What emotion did the sight of Athenian idolatry excite 
in the missionary's breast ! His spirit was stirred in him. 
A fire was kindled that would have consumed the man if it 
had been pent up. Allowed to get vent, it blazed forth, 
and precipitated him with all his force alone against the world. 

It is worthy of notice here, however, that it is not every 
human spirit that is kindled into a godly zeal by the sight 
of a neighbour's sins or sorrows. This same Saul was not 
always so tenderly susceptible. His heart had once lain still 
without a flutter within his iron bosom, when the blood of 
the martyr Stephen was shed, and the clothes of the mur- 
derers lay at his feet. The martyr's eyes were raised to 
heaven in his sight, and a light from God's countenance 
made his face to shine like an angel's before the time ; the 
martyr's last prayer was uttered, and its gentle accents fell 
on the persecutor's ear — "Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge;" but Saul of Tarsus felt no pity thrilling in his 
cold heart — no shudder of remorse trembling in his callous 
soul. Hard and dull and blunt as the nether millstone his 
spirit remained under the most melting sights and sounds 
that can fall on human sense. 

A great change had passed on Paul between the time when 
he saw, unmoved, Christ's first witness die, and the time when 
the sight of Athenian idolatry lighted a flame of godly 
jealousy in his breast, and threw him headlong on the god 
of this world, at the spot where he was covered with all his 



3 68 



The Church in the House, 



panoply. Now Paul himself was redeemed, and it grieved 
him to see a brother lying under condemnation. Now he 
was himself delivered from the power of Satan, and he could 
not bear to see silly birds going blindfold into the fowler's 
snare. This is the rule : it is when we have ourselves been 
brought out of darkness that rivers of water will run down 
our eyes because men keep not God's law. It is at Christ's 
love to us that our hearts take fire for other men. 

Although the state of society is greatly advanced in our 
land and day, yet sights may be seen amongst us that should 
fire the heart of the observer as much as the idolatry of 
Athens fired the heart of Paul. A light and frivolous spirit 
is abroad — altogether Athenian — which seems to be render- 
ing the generation incapable of earnest moral purpose, or self- 
sacrifice for noble ends. There is an impatience of the sober, 
the real, and the true, with a corresponding chase after the 
new, the exciting, the fictitious. We have indeed some use 
for the men who lived great lives and died great deaths for 
God and man on our own soil in a former age ; for we gather 
scraps of their weakness from history wherewith to adorn 
our tales ; but true appreciation of their excellence does not 
seem to lie within reach of those who assume to lead 
opinion in these days. 

Some may be disposed to congratulate themselves that 
although the Athenian lightness be rife, yet the Athenian 
idolatry that grieved Paul does not venture to rear its head 
in Christendom. Even this comfort does not rightly belong 
to us. Without taking into account the Eomish image- 
worship, which, in this country at least, is mainly confined 
to churches, and is not often obtruded before the public, 
idolatry in another form is rampant; for " covetousness is 
idolatry." The old Greeks, like the modern Asiatics, wor- 
shipped with bended knee the idols that were made of gold : 



The Philosophers. 



3^9 



we worship in our hearts the gold of which their idols were 
made. The various vices that ravage our cities, if not in 
themselves more hideous than those that greeted the apostle's 
eye in Athens, are fitted to stir into greater keenness the 
compassion of an observer, because they display their vile- 
ness in presence of a brighter and holier light than that of 
Greek philosophy. Considering our privileges and attain- 
ments, I suspect there is more to make an apostle shudder 
in Edinburgh and London than there was in Athens and 
Rome. Oh, it is pitiful, that near a whole cityful of com- 
fortable Christianised inhabitants, so many wretches in human 
form should be permited to torment and destroy themselves 
and one another by open, organised, wholesale vice and crime. 

For dealing effectually with the plague-spots of the land 
and the plague-stricken of the people, we have already means 
and machinery in abundance. What is wanted is a great 
fire of love in human hearts to set the apparatus in motion. 
We have good meaning, but little might. We have principle 
already ; it is passion that we want, — passion such as burned 
in the heart of Paul when he looked on the idolatry of Athens. 



LXXV. 
THE PHILOSOPHERS. 

" Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout 
persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then 
certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. 
And some said, What will this babbler say ? other some, He seemeth to be 
a setter forth of strange gods : because he preached unto them Jesus, and 
the resurrection." — Acts xvii. 17, 18. 

ALTHOUGH it was the idolatry of the Greeks that 
stirred Paul's spirit, and launched him single-handed 
on the work, he kept his old rule of giving the first offer of 

2 A 



3 70 The Church in the House. 

the gospel to the Jews. Even here he began in the syna- 
gogue; hut, as might have been expected, the mission to 
the heathen soon sprang to the foreground, and occupied his 
energies. 

In the market-place he discoursed daily to all who were 
willing to listen. The method indicated by the term " dis- 
puted " was universal among the Greeks. It consisted of 
question and reply. It was both more lively in itself, and 
better fitted to elieit truth than any of our modern methods. 
At Tarsus, Paul was trained to such disputations in his 
youth ; and doubtless he felt himself at home in the Agora 
of Athens. The " vessel " was chosen because of its capa- 
city; or rather, capacity was providentially imparted to 
the vessel, because such an instrument was needed in the 
service of the King. 

Two of the leading sects into which Greek philosophy 
after the time of Socrates had broken up, immediately 
appear upon the field — the Epicureans and the Stoics. 
These two systems were reciprocally antagonist. In their 
nature and mutual relations they resembled somewhat the 
Sadducees and the Pharisees among the Jews. Paul was 
a Pharisee before he was a Christian, and if he had lived in 
Athens would certainly have attached himself to the Stoics. 

Both sects dealt with the same questions : with man, his 
duty, his destiny, his relation to the universe and to God. 

Epicurus bought a garden in the city, and taught his dis- 
ciples there. His main principle was, that the chief good 
of man is enjoyment. It is due, however, to the founders of 
the sect to say that they measured enjoyment by a high 
standard. They repudiated sensual pleasures. It was in 
the later period of the Eoman Empire that this philosophy 
developed into unbridled licentiousness. But even in Paul's 
time its maxims tended to degrade humanity. The apostle 



The Philosophers. 



371 



alludes with horror to its fundamental maxim, " Let us eat 
and drink, for to-morrow we die." They made special efforts 
to free themselves from the fear of death. Listen, 0 ye dis- 
ciples of Epicurus ! a preacher stands in the Agora to-day 
who can really impart to you this secret. He will tell you 
of One who can " deliver them who through fear of death 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 1 

The Stoics, so called because their founder, Zeno, taught 
in a porch (Stoa), were in many respects the opposite of the 
Epicureans. They taught that man's chief end is to be vir- 
tuous. But, alas ! they had no certain knowledge of what 
virtue is ; and they possessed no power to lead a human 
spirit in the right path, even although it had been known. 

When the representatives of these two philosophical 
sects encountered the learned Jew in the market-place of 
Athens, they would soon discover that he was not a novice 
in their own arts. The Stoic system, especially, must have 
been familiar to Paul in his youth at Tarsus. It is remark- 
able that from the time of Zeno to the time of Paul, a 
period of about three hundred years, almost all the leading 
Stoics were Asiatic Greeks ; and three of these, each of them 
a leader in his day, were of the same province — Cilicia — 
and two even of the same city — Tarsus — in which the 
apostle was educated. Discussions between Epicurean and 

1 Thoughtful heathens of that time were much exercised about the shadow 
which the prospect of death casts over the path of the living. They wove many- 
curious and acute reasonings together, by way of covering ; but, alas ! these 
threads, though exhibiting great ingenuity, possessed no power. Cicero — " Tus- 
culan Questions," Book I. — puts the matter thus :— All men are either alive or 
dead. Those who are alive are free from death, and those who are dead are free 
from it ; therefore all are free, and none should fear. He points out, with labor- 
ious hair-splitting, that no man has anything to do with death. It cannot come 
to the living, for when it comes, he is no longer living, but dead ; and it cannot 
come to the dead, for he is already past it. How poor are these speculations of 
philosophy in presence of the gospel of Christ ! 



372 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



Stoic, in the schools of Tarsus when Paul was young, must 
have held the same place which the dispute between 
Eomanists and the Eeformation holds with us. There was 
the same interval, the same separation into sects, and the 
same antipathy. 

Both sections, however, soon turned against Paul, as 
Sadducee and Pharisee, at a later period, combined at Jeru- 
salem for his destruction. All parties were especially 
scandalised by his doctrine of " Jesus and the resurrection." 
These philosophers could not bear to be told of a crucified 
Eedeemer. They would not receive the fact on which the 
salvation of the world depends — that Jesus died for our sins 
and rose again for our justification. 

Paul was as eager to win these Greek philosophers as he 
had been to win those low, ruffian fortune-tellers who 
haunted the precincts of the temple at Ephesus. He had 
learned from the Master to have no respect of persons. He 
looked on the learned and unlearned as all alike lost, unless 
and until Christ were formed in them. These were noble 
specimens of humanity, but they were fallen. They were 
dead in sin, and they could not bring themselves to life again. 

Conceive of a race of intelligent beings springing up and 
attaining maturity in an hour : suppose that hour to be the 
beginning of the night. They are ephemera; their life- 
course lasts only twenty-four hours. The first half of their 
existence is night. They exercise their faculties on all the 
nocturnal phenomena of nature. This night, we shall sup- 
pose, has been varied. At first there was darkness ; after- 
wards the stars appeared, and later still the moon. The 
world, they thought, was now glorious : their privileges were 
complete. Expectation, imagination, could no further go. 
At length the day dawns in the east, and the sun rises in 
his strength. But these ephemeral creatures do not relish 



The Philosophers. 



373 



the light of day. Their faculties have developed under the 
feeble lights of the night ; their senses have accommodated 
themselves to their circumstances. They are content with 
what they possess, and busy themselves in weaving thick 
curtains to keep out the sunlight. 

Such were the Athenian philosophers when the gospel 
reached them in the preaching of Paul. They had light of 
a kind. Their light, such as it was, reached them as a re- 
flection from that Sun they had never seen. But so accus- 
tomed were they to the darkness, and so contented with it, 
that when the Sun appeared they shut their eyes against 
his healing beams. 

The discussions which sprang up in the market-place be- 
tween Paul and the philosophers soon attracted a crowd. 
The Greeks were sharp enough to perceive that there was 
something deeper in the discourse of the stranger than the 
daily gossip of the streets. By common consent it was 
agreed that these matters were too grave to be dealt with in 
the noise and jostling of the market. All felt instinctively 
that there must be an adjournment. The cry, "To the 
Areopagus!" was raised; and the whole mass — preacher, 
philosophers, and people — moved together from the low, 
level market-place up to the venerable rock. The ascent, 
abrupt on one side, was an easy gradient on the other. The 
rock rose to a height of about sixty feet above the plateau 
that lay between it and the much more elevated Acropolis. 
It was levelled on the top, and seats for the magistrates were 
cut in the rock. The temple of Theseus, the most ancient, 
and still the best preserved of their shrines, was close by. 
The Acropolis, crowned with the Temple of Minerva, the 
patroness of the city, overhung the spot, as the Castle rock 
of Edinburgh overhangs the plateau on which Heriot's Hos- 
pital stands. 



374 



The Church in the House. 



In this open-air court all the great trials of religion and 
politics had been conducted. Grand associations were con- 
nected with the spot. In this case it was not the trial of a 
criminal. No charge was preferred against Paul. It was 
an adjournment to this place of grave and solemn traditions, 
that, under the presidency of the magistrates and in presence 
of the people, the sublime themes concerning man and his 
relation to God, broached by the Jewish stranger, might be 
reasoned out. Here met the wisdom of this world and the 
foolishness of preaching. Here the Cross of Christ came 
into contact with the best that human reason had been able 
to discover. Here, as elsewhere, the preached gospel will be 
a dividing word. The cross raised on the Areopagus will be 
like the cross erected by Pilate's soldiers on Calvary in this 
— that on one side of it there will be a scorner, and on the 
other side a sinner saved by faith. From the one side you 
hear the sneer, " If thou be Christ, save thyself and us f 
from the other the prayer, " Lord, remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom." In Athens, as in Jerusalem, it 
is " on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." 



"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I 
perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and 
beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown 
God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you," etc. 
—Acts xvii. 22-31. 



iAUL'S address on the Areopagus is, even in a merely 



JL literary and archaeological point of view, one of the 
most beautiful gems that have descended from ancient to 



LXXVI. 



ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN. 




All things to all Men. 



375 



modern times. In itself, and in its adaptation to circum- 
stances, it exhibits great literary power and consummate 
skill It is a fine example of the preacher's own rule — 
that is, of becoming all things to all men that he might gain 
some. He grasps firmly at the same moment both his own 
aim as a missionary of Christ, and the peculiar character of 
his audience. His speech is a noble effort to win for the 
gospel the most cultivated and refined people of that age. 
It is a grand crisis ; and this Jew is equal to it. The 
apostle of Jesus Christ is at length face to face with human 
civilisation in its highest form, and his aim is to overturn it 
— to place it on a new foundation and animate it with a 
new spirit. He stands up, waves his hand, and begins : 
u Athenians, everything I behold gives evidence that you are 
very devotional." The words of the English version — " too 
superstitious" — are not happily chosen. It is quite true 
that in Paul's view their worship was superstition, and in his 
mind the word he employed attributed to them a reverence 
for demons. But the word was ambiguous, and to his 
audience it might convey the idea of religiosity without 
suggesting anything offensive. They will discover as he 
proceeds what he thinks of their religious rites ; but, in the 
first instance, he conveys to their minds only the idea that he 
considered them very religious. He speaks the truth according 
to his own judgment; but he carefully avoids such harshness 
at the outset as might have bereft him of his coveted oppor- 
tunity. He will not offend the audience in the first sentence. 

This missionary is a philosopher as well as a Christian. 
He will preach Christianity, not philosophy ; but he will 
employ philosophy as an instrument in his work. Accord- 
ing to the symbolic phraseology of the Apocalypse, the 
earth will help the woman. In the intense devotion of the 
Athenians, Paul recognised a power which might yet be 



37^ 



The Church in the House. 



turned to good account. This appetite for the spiritual pro- 
claims man to be the child of God, although in a state of 
disease it seeks impure food. This appetite may yet be fed 
with the bread of life. He knew that the " demon- dread " 
with which his audience were affected was a dark supersti- 
tion ; but he did not openly or offensively, in the first in- 
stance, say so. He will lead them by a gentler and, as he 
hopes, a surer method to the truth. He conciliates their 
favour by acknowledging their religiousness ; and then en- 
deavours to turn the wandering stream of their piety into 
the right channel. 

Paul paced the streets of Athens like other strangers. He 
looked eagerly on every object of interest. He observed 
men as well as things ; actions as well as scenes. He took 
mental note of all that he saw, and classified the facts in his 
memory for subsequent use. This is a most precious 
faculty. Any person can see the objects ; not every person 
can arrange his observations in order, and lay them where 
they will be available in time of need. 

Of the various objects which had attracted his attention 
on the streets, one now started to his memory, and leaped to 
his lips. " As I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I 
found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God." 
Some pilgrims were bringing a votive offering and laying it 
on an altar as the apostle passed. He will turn aside and 
study them. He sees the inscription — "To the unknown 
God." The sad words are written not with a pencil in a note- 
book, but with a pen of iron on his memory. He weeps in 
secret over the blindness of the heathen. He possesses a 
light which will chase away that darkness. He longs to 
make God known in the Mediator. 

These idolaters seem to have advanced one step beyond 
their own idolatry. They felt, and sadly owned, that with 



All things to all Men. 



377 



their thirty thousand deities, and their city full of temples, 
they had not yet discovered the truth. There remained 
something which they could not reach, and without which 
they could not be happy. After this unknown One they 
grope blindfold. They stretch out their arms into night, 
and on closing them embrace only the damp air. 

The astronomers LeVerrier and Adams, in separate countries 
at the same time, observing certain motions among the 
spheres which could not be accounted for by any known 
cause, concluded that there must be a body not yet discovered, 
somewhere in the regions of space in which the disturbances 
were observed. Seeking in the direction thus indicated, 
they found the far distant and hitherto unknown world. So 
Greek philosophy was able, from the appetites and vacancies 
of the human mind, which all the idols could not satisfy, to 
determine that there must be some God hitherto from them 
concealed, to whom these appetites pointed, and without 
whom they could not be satisfied. Their skill could dis- 
cover in a general way their need, but they could not by 
their searching find the missing Portion for a human soul. 
This messenger who now speaks to them can supply the 
lack. Through Christ he can make known to them the 
Father. "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him 
declare I unto you." Paul was willing to take their con- 
fessed sense of want as inquiry after the living God, and 
offered to lead them by the gospel into his presence. 

Incidentally, while preaching to the philosophers, the 
apostle declares the unity of the human race. Of one blood 
are all nations. The blood is the life. He conceives of it 
as a river flowing from one fountain, and branching out into 
many channels. The stream has, in point of fact, been con- 
tinuous, like waters that fail not. The blood that flows in the 
veins of this generation has descended in an uninterrupted 



378 



The Church in the House. 



stream from the primeval man. This stream is one ; it had 
not several distinct fountains. 

The Greeks were a fine race of men ; and they knew it. 
In regard to physical symmetry, they thought of themselves 
as the Pharisees thought of their spiritual attainments. 
They trusted in themselves that they were intellectually 
and physically beautiful, and despised others. Mankind 
were divided in their conception into two great sections — 
Greeks and Barbarians. They would not admit a community 
of race with other peoples ; but alas ! in order to isolate and 
so distinguish themselves, the highest fiction they could 
invent was that they had sprung from the soil of Greece ! 

This old heathen fable is curiously cognate with the latest 
speculations which a sect of secular philosophers are at this 
day zealously propagating. The old fiction assumed a 
poetical form — the living men, full-bodied and perfect, 
sprang from the mother earth ; the modern myth, as becomes 
its date, is dressed up in a complete suit of scientific 
garments. But it is the same in its substance; for it 
represents that men, body and soul as you now behold them, 
came, through an infinite succession of steps indeed, but still 
came, without an intelligent cause, from dead matter — that is, 
that they sprang from the ground. Thus human reason, when 
left to itself in matters that relate to God and the soul, spins 
round in a giddy circle, and thinks it is making progress. 

After glancing at God's providential reign over the world, 
the preacher comes more closely home to his heathen 
audience, and out of their own lips convicts them of not 
acting up to the light they possessed. By the mouth of 
their own poets they professed themselves to be the offspring 
of God, and yet they worshipped wood and stone — the work 
of their own hands. It is worthy of remark here that 
Aratus, the poet whom Paul quotes, was a native of Tarsus. 



Some fell on the wayside. 3 79 



Paul must have been acquainted with his writings in the 
schools of his native place. An almost identical phrase 
occurs also in the hymn to Jupiter by Cleanthes, a dis- 
tinguished disciple of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic sect. 
Perhaps the preacher glanced toward the colossal statue of 
Minerva, the patron saint of the city, fixed on the top of 
the temple that crowned the Acropolis, the pride of Athens 
and the work of her greatest artist, while he uttered the 
withering words, " Forasmuch then as we are the offspring 
of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto 
gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." 

The times of this ignorance God looked over — that is, he 
waited for his own set time, and then sent the Word forth 
from Jerusalem to the nations. In that Word he commands 
all men everywhere to repent. God in the gospel not only 
permits and invites, he commands men to repent and believe 
and live. This is his commandment — to Greeks and to 
Britons — in the first century and the nineteenth — his com- 
mandment is, " That we should believe on the name of his 
Son J esus Christ, whom he hath sent." 



LXXVII. 

SOME FELL ON THE WAYSIDE, SOME ON 
GOOD GEOUND. 

"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked ; and others 
said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among 
them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed : among the which 
was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others 
with them." — Actsxvhi. 32-34. 

ON the Areopagus, as elsewhere, Paul would have more 
fully opened the gospel of Christ if the proud audience 
had been willing to hear him. But when he reached his 



3 8o 



The Church in the House. 



favourite theme, the resurrection of Christ, they lost patience, 
and raised an uproar. They rudely shut the preachers 
mouth, and so shut the door of mercy against themselves. 
It is instructive to observe wherein the offence of the cross 
specifically lay in those times and for those people ; it lay 
in the resurrection of Christ, which implied also his death 
as an atonement for sin. The Athenians could bear the 
cutting remarks of the stranger on their own ignorance, as 
confessed in the memorable altar-inscription; they could 
bear the exposure of their own inconsistency in acknowledg- 
ing God their Father, and yet paying homage to a marble 
statue ; they could bear the announcement of a great assize 
in which the whole world must stand before a human judge, 
Divinely appointed to distribute rewards and punishments ; 
but when Paul proceeded to declare the central fact on 
which the hope of men must hang — the atoning death and 
the glorious resurrection of the man Christ Jesus, — their 
philosophy and politeness could not bear them further — 
they broke out into scornful interruptions, and the speaker's 
voice was drowned in the tumult. This is the offence of 
the cross to-day. How significant in this aspect are the 
words of the Lord : " Blessed is he who shall not be 
offended in me." 

Paul departed from among them doubtless with a heavy 
heart. It seemed to him at that moment that his labour 
was lost. Not long after, however, he learned that some of 
the good seed had fallen into broken ground. Even on the 
hard soil of the Areopagus, where he had scattered his seed 
weeping, he gathered sheaves with joy. 

That congregation of Greeks was divided into three 
distinct parts. The descriptions are given with great 
distinctness. Paul rightly divided that day the Word of 
truth, and the Word divided the hearers into distinct and 



Some fell on the wayside. 



38: 



well-defined groups : into mockers, hesitators, and cleaving 
believers. Examine them one by one. 

1. The mockers. When the preacher spoke of the resur- 
rection of the dead, a portion of the audience loudly jeered 
him. Paul told the story of the cross : how the Son of God 
took our nature, and in it suffered death for our sin ; that 
through Divine power he rose from the dead and ascended 
into heaven ; and that all who accept him as their Saviour 
will rise to reign with him for ever. It was at this point 
that a portion of these volatile Athenians began to make 
sport of the preacher. These, whether socially higher or 
lower, were in spirit the hardest and coldest of the company. 
They were fast and free livers. Probably they belonged to 
the sect of Epicureans. They enjoyed life, and kept the 
thought of death away. They made no apology to the 
distinguished stranger; they did not take the trouble of 
making a hypocritical promise to consider the subject and 
call again. Nor were they content with simply neglecting 
the message. They made sport of the preacher and his 
theme in presence of the assembly. They went away 
laughing at the truth of God and the God of truth. 

If our voice could reach the modern representatives of 
these jolly Greeks, we should affectionately and solemnly 
suggest to them that if God is, their laugh will not make 
him cease to be ; that their destiny is long, but their view 
at present short ; that they have not made sure that when 
we are dead we are done ; that it is a fearful thing for a 
scoffer to fall into the hands of the living God. What if 
the very intellect that enables you to entertain the question 
whether there be a God, be conclusive evidence that there 
is a God who gave it ? What if this " No God," a judgment 
pronounced by an intelligent self-conscious spirit, be itself 
evidence that God is ? If God had not been, there could 



382 



The Chttrch in the House. 



have existed no creature capable of entertaining the question 
whether there be a God. 

2. The hesitators. " Others said, We will hear thee again 
of this matter." They listened respectfully to the public 
address ; and when the hubbub caused by the scorners had 
subsided, they approached the speaker and politely excused 
themselves for not complying with his invitation. These 
men were between two opposites, and perhaps found them- 
selves in a strait. On the one side, in a group that clustered 
round the preacher, they might observe gushing tears and 
other symptoms of broken hearts ; and on the other side, 
they might see the smile of scorn curling on the lips of 
scoffers as they descended the steps into the forum again. 
Perhaps these men were really perplexed, and meant to 
reconsider the subject. Convinced in their 'consciences that 
the testimony of the apostle had all the air of truth, they 
did not dare to scoff; but wedded to their own ease and 
pleasure they were not willing to take up the cross and 
follow Christ. Accordingly they adopted an intermediate 
course. They made a respectful apology to the preacher 
and went away. Counting the time of closing with Christ 
an evil day, they put it as far off as they could. They did 
not venture to say Never; but they went the length of 
saying, Not now. 

This intermediate class is very numerous in our own age. 
They are a very large flock ; and in their present condition 
it is not the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. 
They do not erase the gospel from their creeds ; but they 
will not permit it to reign in their hearts and mould their 
lives. They are willing to possess a religion ; but not willing 
that religion should possess them. They will wear it as a 
very becoming ornament ; but they will not flee to hide in 
it as their life. They will keep near the door which it 



Some fell on good ground. 383 



opens, that they may run into it at any moment when their 
case becomes desperate ; but they will not press through it 
now, lest some right arm should be torn off in the passage, 
and the presence of Christ within should cast a damp over 
their vain pleasures. They w^ould fain hope that Christ will 
stand ready to open the door of heaven for them on that day ; 
but they are not willing to open the door of their hearts for 
him this day. They slumber while the Bridegroom passes ; 
alas ! it is to be feared the Bridegroom will refuse to open 
when at length they begin to knock and cry. 

We have reached deep waters at last, after passing the 
noisy foam and the deceitful shallows. After passing in 
review the scorners and the procrastinators, we have come 
to— 

3. The believers. " Howbeit, certain men clave unto him 
and believed." First of all, it is instructive to observe the 
relations in which the Athenian believers stood to Paul the 
minister on the one hand, and to Christ the Redeemer on 
the other. They clave — they were glued to the preacher. 
As iron under the influence of the magnetic current cleaves 
to the magnet, their hearts held to the man who made the 
Saviour known. To the stranger Jew who told of Jesus 
crucified and risen, those Greek citizens, including one at 
least of the ruling class, fondly, firmly clung as to their life. 
Strange ; and that too at the moment when their quick-witted 
countrymen were making merry with the outlandish opinions 
and speech of the foreigner. A principle more secret and 
more strong than magnetism had been generated in their 
hearts by this preacher's word. By an irresistible law of the 
new nature they were drawn to the man who made known 
the Saviour of sinners. But, tender though their love was 
to Paul, through whom the word came, it did not terminate 
on him. They cleaved to him and believed ; that is, while 



384 



The Chtirch in the House. 



this man's lips were the channel through which the word of 
life reached them, the ultimate longing of their hearts — their 
ultimate grasp — reached and rested on Christ crucified, 
whom Paul preached. They cleaved to Paul, but they 
believed in Christ. 

No wonder that these newly converted Greeks cleaved to 
the skirts of Paul. He was already a strong man. He had 
reached full stature, and was more vigorous in faith and hope 
than others, because his graces had all been greatly tried. 
They were little children, and the world a treacherous sea ; 
it was natural that they should cling to their spiritual father, 
as if for their life. 

An artist has painted a marine scene at the crisis of a 
heart-stirring event, and the group is constituted thus : 
Prom the rigging of a distressed ship on a wild sea a stout 
rope hangs over the side. In the lower extremity of that 
rope a solitary seaman, evidently a volunteer in the business, 
his strong limbs and stronger heart going into it with all 
their might — a solitary seaman hangs. To the seaman clings 
a mother, and to the mother, seen dimly through the drifting 
spray, clings an infant. The cry, " They're saved," rings out 
that moment from the eager spectators, who watch the crisis 
from the deck. The seaman was the child's saviour that 
day ; yet the seaman touched not the child ; the child touched 
not the seaman. The mother was sustained by that hero's 
strength, and the child hung upon the mother. It is in 
some such way as this that Christ was the Saviour of those 
Greeks, although they grasped Paul, as if they were glued 
to his person. The apostle served at the moment as a link 
between them and the Lord : " ministered by us." 

We know that this minister was faithful. He was zealous 
for the honour of his Lord and the safety of his brethren. If 
he had seen that those Greeks were making him their idol, 



Some fell on good ground. 385 



lie would have shaken off their grasp with livelier loathing 
than that with which he shook the venomous reptile from 
his hand into the fire at Malta. If he had seen that they 
were superstitiously looking to him for help, he would 
have rebuked them as he rebuked others with that terrible 
demand, " Was Paul crucified for you ? " 

There is a world of meaning in this cleaving — this glueing 
of themselves to their instructor. The danger is great, the 
time is short, the struggle is hard. Christianity is not a 
pleasant dream ; it is a real warfare. The corresponding 
expression in Peter's exhortation throws light on the eager 
cleaving of our text. " The righteous," he intimates, " are 
scarcely saved." It is a close run, a hair-breadth escape, 
like the escape of Lot from Sodom when the angels laid hold 
of him and dragged him away from doom. It is the salva- 
tion of one who strips off not only his wealth and his 
pleasures and his ornaments to escape through the narrow 
gate as poor as he was born, but of one who strips himself 
off — the old man with his deeds— and enters life as he was 
born again — the new creature only. I think I see groups 
of sinners saved, assembling immediately within the gate, 
telling each other of their dangers and escapes, every heart 
beating with the recent tumult, but every eye beaming with 
unspeakable delight. Through fire and water they have been 
brought ; but now they are in a wealthy place. 

Let none be surprised when they see the anguished 
earnestness of awakened souls. Be surprised and suspicious 
rather when the matter is taken coolly. 

The first sensations of this cleaving are beyond measure 
sweet to a missionary at home or abroad. He has toiled in 
the ministry for a series of years, wearied, and almost wearied 
out, by a dreary alternation of Paul's first two Athenian 
experiences — the scoff of the mockers, and the heartless. 

2 B 



3 86 



The Chitrch in the House. 



soulless apology of the worldling as he turns his back. When 
he is at the point of giving over in despair, he is startled by 
an unwonted, almost unexpected sensation. Surely the line 
that he has held dangling loose over that dreary sea for so 
many nights was tightened a little. It is even so. The 
line is tight and heavy. His heart leaps for joy. The mis- 
sionary feels living souls cleaving to his own, that he may 
help them to Christ their life. This cleaving to the servant 
is a symptom of believing in the Lord. 

Although Christ alone is the Saviour, the ministry of man 
holds an important place. How tender are these relations 
in time ! How happy in eternity ! 



LXXVIIL 

THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD. 

" After these things Paul departed from Athens, and eame to Corinth," etc. 
Acts xvhi. 1-9. 

" A FTER these things Paul departed from Athens." Alas! 
XX he had seen little fruit in that city. " The world by 
wisdom knew not God." 

The apostle seems to have been interrupted by an outburst 
of contempt, as soon as he reached his main subject, — J esus 
and the resurrection. They listened respectfully as long as 
he contended with the Epicureans and the Stoics : they were 
interested by his discourse on natural religion ; perhaps they 
admired his dialectic against idolatry : but as soon as he 
began to preach Jesus, they raised a shout of derision and 
drowned the preacher's voice. 

" They walked according to the course of this world, the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." 



The World by wisdom knew not God. 387 

The spirit that ruled them permitted them to hear Paul's 
philosophy, but raised a tumult to prevent them from listen- 
ing to Paul's gospel. The strong man armed kept his goods 
in peace, as long as the preliminary argument lasted ; but 
at the approach of this testimony to Jesus, he dreaded lest 
a stronger than he should burst in ; accordingly he quickly 
shut the gates. 

It is a melancholy reflection that the gospel in great 
measure failed in Athens. There is no epistle of Paul to 
the Athenians, while no less than two letters of his to each 
of the two great mercantile cities, Thessalonica and Corinth, 
have come down to us. Athens in the midst sat alone as a 
queen, representing the philosophy and the art of Greece. 
There the kingdom of Christ could not obtain a footing. 
But Thessalonica on the one side, and Corinth on the other, 
became the scenes of great missionary success, the sites of 
early and flourishing Christian churches. 

The wealth and luxury, and even profligacy of Corinth, 
did not in point of fact present so hard a wayside for the 
seed as the earthly wisdom of Athens. Not only licentious 
Corinth, but barbarous Melita, and warrior Eome, afforded 
to the living word a better seed-bed than the schools of 
contending philosophies. 

Some have connected this lack of success with the special 
method adopted by the apostle among the Athenians. They 
have said, his experience discourages every effort to accom- 
modate the presentation of the gospel to the tastes and 
attainments of the audience. In short, they imagine that 
Paul made a blunder in attempting to adapt his discourse 
to the mental habits of the philosophers ; and that the result 
shows he should have delivered his message in the same 
form at Athens as at Philippi. But this is a mistaken view. 
The preaching comparatively failed at Athens, not because 



388 The Church in the House. 

of the preacher's method, but in spite of it. The message 
was rejected although Paul did much to commend it to the 
cultivated Greeks ; how much more if he had neglected all 
art and effort in his approaches ! This sower went forth to 
sow, and sowed very skilfully : but the seed did not grow, 
because the ground on which it fell was dry and hard. 

Every minister of the Word should do his utmost to 
become all things to all men, that he may gain some : but 
when he has delivered his message, and the message has 
been neglected, let not men deceive themselves with the re- 
flection that the cause of their carelessness was the unskil- 
fulness of the preacher. 

I do not excuse negligence in the preacher. I ask no 
leniency of judgment in his favour. He is inexcusable if he 
do not put all his force and skill into his work, for it is an 
errand of life and death on which he is sent : but I earnestly 
warn all who hear the gospel that no charge against the 
preacher's methods, however well founded, will relieve from 
condemnation those who are not in Christ. 

He came to Corinth, about forty-five miles distant. The 
province of Achaia then, like the modern kingdom of Greece, 
consisted of the Morea and a portion of the mainland on the 
north. There were two Eoman provinces — Macedonia on 
the north, with Thessalonica as the capital ; and Achaia on 
the south, with Corinth as its capital. The city occupied 
an advantageous position on the neck of the peninsula, with 
shipping on either side. At several periods attempts had 
been made to cut a canal across ; but they had never been 
successful. It was often in time of war fortified by a wall. 
Corinth had been destroyed by a Eoman army ; but Julius 
Csesar restored it ; and at the time of Paul's visit it had 
again become a great city. It enjoyed an extensive com- 
merce. 



The World by wisdom knew not God, 389 

Here Paul attached himself to a worthy Jewish couple, 
Aquila and Priscilla, who were tent-makers, and who subse- 
quently at various places gave effective aid to the ministers 
of the gospel. In their company and in their workshop he 
laboured with his hands, earning his daily bread, and preach- 
ing as he obtained opportunities in the city. A workshop 
is not a bad place for preaching in. If the heart of one 
workman is filled with the love of Christ, all the hands will 
hear of it. Every Sabbath-day the synagogue was open, and 
Paul plied his opportunity there. He seems in the first 
instance to have associated almost exclusively with the Jews 
in Corinth, perhaps because of the bitter disappointment he 
met at the hands of the Greeks in Athens. 

After Silas and Timothy rejoined him, Paul launched out 
more boldly in his mission at Corinth. But again a storm 
of persecution arose. The Jews as usual were the bitterest 
enemies of the gospel. In the midst of his discouragement, 
however, a great consolation was conferred upon him in the 
conversion of Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and 
all his house. Writing afterwards to the Church at Corinth, 
Paul said that with the temptations that had been allowed 
to come, the Lord had also opened a way of escape. He 
spoke from his own experience. Very heavy trials over- 
took him in that city ; but God who sent them did not 
leave him to sink. He made a way of escape ; and that 
way was a Divine revelation. " The Lord spake to Paul by 
a vision." Left to his own sagacity and vigour, the treat- 
ment he met at Corinth, coming immediately after his 
experience at Athens, might have been too much for the 
missionary. At Athens he addressed himself to the Gentiles, 
but his efforts failed ; in Corinth he returned to the syna- 
gogue, but the Jews opposed themselves and blasphemed. 
"Then spake the Lord:" man's extremity is God's oppor- 



390 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



tunity. When all seemed shut around this witness, a door 
of escape was opened. Help came precisely when it was 
needed. When Pharaoh is already pressing on the rear of 
the camp, the Eed Sea divides in front, and the people pass 
over, the people whom the Lord has redeemed. When 
Timothy and Silas prove too feeble as comforters, the Master 
himself sustains his fainting servant in the everlasting arms. 
" Lo, I am with you always." It is ever so in the experience 
of disciples : when I am weak, then am I strong. 



LXXIX. 

THE MISSIONARY AND THE GOVERNOR. 

" Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, 
and hold not thy peace : for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to 
hurt thee : for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a 
year and six months, teaching the word of God among them," etc. — Acts 
xviii. 9-17. 

WE may learn much of Paul's inner character by ob- 
serving what the Master promised him for en- 
couragement in his difficulties at Corinth. The Lord knew 
the missionary's heart — where its weakness lay, and what 
would avail to give him support. Now, by marking what 
the omniscient Physician prescribes, we gain an infallible 
diagnosis of the patient's ailments. Two distinct grounds of 
comfort are supplied ; therefore, we may conclude, two dis- 
tinct fears oppressed the missionary's heart. The twin 
comforts are assurance of personal safety, and the promise of 
many souls as his hire ; the twin fears accordingly were, 
lest the violence of the persecutors should crush him, and 
lest his labour in the ministry of the Word should be in 



The Missionary and the Governor, 391 

vain. The one fear shows Paul's weakness, and the other 
shows his strength. In fear of danger and love of life, Paul 
was like other men, and needed the assurance of Divine pro- 
tection ; but the motive of his ministry was to save men, for 
he who knows his heart is able to assume, that the hope of 
winning souls will make him brave every danger in the pro- 
secution of his work. 

" Speak ; for I have much people in this city." Despond- 
ency was freezing the stream of motive, and the machinery 
of the missionary's life was about to stand still : hope of 
success, given by the word of his Master, melted the ice, and 
the work went on. This demonstrates that Paul preached 
in order to win souls. 

An interesting and comforting view of Divine sovereignty 
is opened up here, a view that tends to reconcile all differ- 
ences of opinion among the disciples of Christ, and induce 
them to accept meekly all that the Scripture reveals, waiting 
for the solution of mysteries till the books are opened. The 
Lord intimates to Paul, " I have much people in this city," 
at a time when these persons were Jews or heathen. It was 
in purpose and prescience as yet that he had them as his 
people, and not in accomplished fact. Now, whether we be 
able to understand that doctrine in its depth or not, the 
Lord, who revealed it, knows his own meaning. Observe 
what he considers is its tendency, and to what purpose he 
applied it. He gives no countenance to the dilemma, 
suggested sometimes in sadness and sometimes in scorn ; 
" I am either chosen, or I am not : if I am chosen, I shall 
be saved, and so need not exert myself ; and if I am not 
chosen, I cannot be saved, whatever exertion I may make." 
Whatever the doctrine of election, as revealed in Scripture, 
may mean, it does not mean that. Oh, the Divine simplicity 
of the Word of God ! " Speak ; for I have much people in 



39 2 The Church in the House. 

this city." This prescience, instead of suppressing effort, is 
given as the encouragement to exertion. And Paul under- 
stood his Lord. The intimation that a multitude of the 
Corinthians would certainly be saved, spurred him on to 
instant and persevering labour in the gospel, that thereby he 
might save some. Let the doctrine be understood as the 
Lord then gave it, and as his servant then received it, and 
instead of placing a millstone on the shoulders of a mission- 
ary, it will take a millstone off. 

" People " here is the exact equivalent of the term em- 
ployed throughout the Old Testament to designate Israel the 
chosen nation. This people is now no longer Abraham's 
seed according to the flesh ; it is a community gathered from 
all kindreds and tongues, knit into a new brotherhood by 
faith in Christ. As the Lord had warned Paul at Jerusalem 
that the Jews would reject the gospel, he warns him at 
Corinth that the Greeks would receive it. The promise is 
transferred from a particular family to believers of every 
land. 

The apostle " was not disobedient to the heavenly vision 
he continued there a year and six months, which, with his 
views of life and work, must have seemed to him a lengthened 
sojourn. 

It was because his hands were full and his gains great that 
he remained so long in one place. I do not venture to say 
that we should exactly, in this matter, follow the apostle's 
example ; but I do venture to say that we should not exactly 
reverse it. If a minister should occupy one place for a life- 
time, precisely because he was altogether unsuccessful, it 
would be a melancholy reversal of apostolic practice. The 
Church would be stronger in our day if the rule were, that 
those labourers who fail to " get gain 11 in one city, should 
quickly move on to another. , 



The Missionary and the Governor. 393 

In this history there is no account in detail of Paul's 
labours in Corinth. We know, however, from hints given 
elsewhere (1 Cor. i. 2, 26-28 ; vi. 9-11), that he materially 
changed his method. In particular, he ceased to frame his 
address so as to suit the habits of the Greek philosophers, 
and simply told the story of the cross. This change might 
be due to a combination of two causes ; he might think that 
his comparative failure at Athens did not encourage him to 
persevere in the plan he adopted there ; and he might also 
find that busy merchants of Corinth required a simpler and 
more direct treatment than the literary circles of Athens. 

While Gallio represented the Eoman Emperor as Governor 
of Achaia, the Jewish inhabitants of the city concocted a 
criminal accusation against Paul, and followed it up with 
tumultuous demonstrations. It was precisely thus that the 
Jews of Jerusalem dealt with Paul's Master under the 
government of Pilate. By the combined action of fanatical 
J ews and a heathen ruler, the Lord was put to death ; how 
shall Paul, in similar circumstances, escape a similar issue ? 
How shall the promise, " No man shall set on thee to hurt 
thee," be fulfilled now ? 

If Gallio should vacillate and yield like Pilate, the mis- 
sionary's life might indeed be spared for the time, for he 
could again exercise his privilege as a Eoman citizen : he 
might have appealed to Csesar. But this would have put a 
stop to his preaching in Corinth, and how then could the 
" much people " be won to Christ ? The time was not yet. 
The Lord hath need of this missionary for a while in Greece 
and Asia before he is sent to Eome. 

How then was the promise of preservation fulfilled to 
Paul? Through the personal character of the proconsul 
Gallio. Some clear notes of this man's history and disposi- 
tion have been handed down to us. He received this name 



394 The Church in the House. 

through adoption into the family of one Gallio, a rhetorician. 
His brother was Seneca the philosopher. He was a man of 
singular gentleness and amiability. His brother writes of 
him in terms of the most admiring affection. His health 
was feeble : he left Corinth sick, declaring that his illness 
was due to the climate of that region. His brother Seneca 
soon after fell a martyr to Nero's cruelty ; and there is a 
tradition that Gallio himself ultimately shared the same fate. 

The Jews had obtained from the government a legal licence 
and protection for their religion ; and they hoped that on 
their complaint the preaching of Paul would be suppressed 
by the magistrate. They stated their case before the pro- 
consul's tribunal ; but when Paul, in turn, was about to 
speak in his own defence, the judge intimated to him that 
no reply was necessary. He would not enter into the case 
on its merits. He would dismiss it without argument as 
incompetent. If it had been any matter of civil right, he 
would have tried the case, and pronounced judgment ; but as 
it related only to different views of the J ewish religion, he 
declined to interfere. It did not lie within his jurisdiction. 
Gallio seems to have seen pretty clearly the distinction which 
puzzles many legal and legislative heads in our day between 
things civil and things sacred — between that which touches 
a citizen in person and property, and that which lies between 
a man's conscience and God. His refusal immediately after- 
wards to interfere when the Jews beat the ruler of their own 
synagogue in his presence, I rather think is not really in- 
consistent with this view ; for it is altogether probable that 
the beating was only a formal affair, intended not to punish 
Sosthenes, who was their own rabbi, but to draw the governor 
out of his neutrality by a sort of trick. 

How great the difference between Pilate and Gallio ! 
And how great issues, in the purposes of God, depended on 



Paul and A polios. 



395 



that difference! Pilate was a cold-blooded, selfish man; 
he was consequently a weathercock when the storm arose 
and beat upon him from opposite directions in quick 
succession. But he settled down at last on the point to 
which he was driven by the popular breeze, and a selfish 
regard for his own interests, Gallio, on the contrary, was a 
man at once just and gentle and unselfish. He was proof 
alike against the legal pleas and the insurrectionary violence 
of the Jews. He saw through them, and despised them. 
He would not suppress Paul's free speech to please his 
fanatical adversaries. He did what he believed right, 
without considering what it might cost him. 

If Gallio, instead of Pilate, had been proconsul in J udsea 
when the priests conspired to put Jesus to death, what 
would have been the result? But we need not speculate. 
I have put the question in order to intimate that it should 
not get an answer. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for 
us. He offered himself ; and all things conspired to fulfil 
his great design. If it had been his will to avoid the cross 
and leave mankind to perish, he could have placed a Gallio 
on Pilate's judgment-seat. 



LXXX. 

PAUL AND APOLLOS. 

" And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of 
the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and 
Aquila ; having shorn his head in Cenchrea : for he had a vow," etc. — 
Acts xxviii. 18-28. 

UNDEE cover of this providential deliverance, the mis- 
sionaries were enabled to prosecute their work until 
i a church was organised in Corinth. Then Paul took leave 



396 The Church in the House. 

of the brethren, — perhaps of Timothy and Silas as well as 
of the native converts. His work in Europe for that time 
was accomplished. Four churches had been founded. He 
had completed a square in the Eoman provinces of 
Macedonia and Greece. There stands the " Quadrilateral," 
■ — Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Corinth, — erected on 
the soil of Europe, and manned by soldiers of Jesus Christ, 
who will hold it for him against all assaults. The true 
Heir of the world is infeoffed now in possession of its 
brightest continent. Here already in germ dwell the ruling 
race. Here the plenipotentiary of the Great King has 
planted the royal standard, and although there may be many 
recedings and advancings, as in a prolonged battle, it may 
be assumed that the Lord will find that signal still floating 
when he comes again. 

Paul " took leave " of his friends at Corinth. Though a 
strong man, he was also a tender one. Tears fell on the 
shore at Cenchrea that day, as afterwards at Miletus. 
Although this apostle seemed to be a man of iron when 
endurance for the sake of the Gospel was required, he 
manifested an almost feminine softness in his intercourse 
with those who loved him. No letter that I am acquainted 
with, either ancient or modern, contains such a list of 
special and distinguishing love-messages as the Epistle to the 
Eomans. The Jewish Christian couple with whom he lodged 
and laboured in Corinth accompanied him in his journey. 
Besides their desire to continue longer in the company of 
their instructor, they may have found that their trade could 
be more advantageously prosecuted in Asia, the seat of 
the manufacture. 

I do not think that much importance should be attached 
to the fact, incidentally mentioned here, that he had his 
head shorn in Cenchrea, before embarking, on account of a 



Paul and Apollos. 



397 



vow. Paul's idea of liberty under the gospel did not go the 
length of forbidding liberty. He bore witness that those 
who made any of these observances their righteousness 
before God, shut themselves out from Christ : but when any 
one was justified through faith in the Kedeemer, Paul and 
his fellow-apostles allowed the convert unlimited liberty to 
observe or not observe the Jewish ceremonial. It is 
pleasant to suppose that Paul himself would rejoice to 
practise occasionally some of these rites, now that he knew 
their typical meaning. He had often toiled through them 
when they were to him a dead letter : I could conceive that 
it might be a refreshment to him to observe some of the old 
ordinances after they had become to him spirit and life 
through faith in Jesus. 

We have much to learn yet in the matter of the liberty 
which the gospel brings. We have an inveterate tendency 
to lay bonds on ourselves and our neighbours, where Christ 
meant that we should be free. The tightness of this binding 
confines and weakens the life. The principle of the rule 
laid down regarding the second marriage of a widow might 
be extended so as to reach many other cases : " She is at 
liberty ; only in the Lord." 

"He came to Ephesus." Corinth and Ephesus were 
the great commercial centres of Greece and Asia, the New 
York and Liverpool of those times and regions. Cicero 
made the passage by sea in fifteen days, but he considered 
the voyage a long one: thirteen days were occupied in 
the return. 

On his arrival at the city, Paul separated from his fellow- 
travellers, and instantly began his work, in the usual way, 
by reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue. His minis- 
try at Ephesus on this occasion, however, was very brief. 
Determined, for some reason not explained, to be at Jeru- 



398 The Church in the House. 

salem during the approaching feast, probably Pentecost, he 
resisted the entreaties of his friends, and took ship for 
Csesarea. 

He reached Jerusalem according to his plan, but the 
record is silent as to his occupation and experiences there. 
Did he call the Christians together, and "rehearse" all that 
the Lord had done by him among the Gentiles ? Did he 
make a pilgrimage to Calvary? Did he stand and weep on the 
spot where Stephen died ? We do not know ; not one word of 
information is given on these subjects. Probably no result 
bearing on the kingdom sprang from that visit to Jerusalem ; 
and the Spirit, not ministering to our curiosity, passes it 
over in silence. To Antioch again the attention of the reader 
is directed, for that great capital had now become the point 
of departure and return for the missionaries of the cross. 

Paul did not retrace his steps to Antioch in order to 
remain there. After getting and giving refreshment through 
intercourse with the Church for a time, he set out on 
another missionary tour. Nor did he on this occasion 
take a new route. He traversed Asia Minor westward on 
the track of his own former journey. He revisited the 
churches that he had formerly planted. To cherish and 
instruct and edify young and feeble believers is recognised 
as worthy occupation for an apostle, even although the 
work of bringing in the heathen should be for a time 
postponed on account of it. The little ones of the family 
are dear to the Master, and therefore dear to all his servants. 

Incidentally we learn (1 Cor. xvi. 1) that on this journey 
he requested contributions for the poor Christians in Jeru- 
salem. This is at least one fruit of his brief visit to that 
city. Like his Lord, he went about doing good. 

Here the history leaves Paul for awhile, and introduces 
some things that happened at Ephesus in his absence. 



Paul and A polios. 



399 



Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, intellectually trained in the 
celebrated schools of his native city, learned and accepted 
the gospel through a true but defective ministry. This man 
came to Ephesus, and began to preach with great accep- 
tance and power. He only knew the testimony borne to 
Christ by John the Baptist : but he pressed the truth, as 
far as he knew it, with great eloquence and great zeal. 
Priscilla and Aquila heard him, and discerned his spirit. 
At a glance they saw three things : 1st, that he was a true 
disciple of Christ \ 2d, that he had great power as a 
reasoner and orator ; and, 3d, that he was defective in his 
knowledge of the gospel. Here was an opportunity for the 
tent-makers. They could not teach in the synagogue; 
but they could instil their knowledge privately into the 
mind of Apollos. They could not preach ; but they could 
make a preacher. 

Here we discover the reason why the Lord in his pro- 
vidence, when this pair were expelled from Eome, guided 
their steps to Corinth, where they learned the gospel from 
Paul ; and then induced them to go with Paul to Ephesus, 
and remain in that city after their great instructor left it. 
The same Divine care that brought Philip and the Ethiopian 
prince together in the desert, brought the tent-makers and 
Apollos together in the city of Ephesus. He was a capa- 
cious vessel ; and they possessed that word of the Lord with 
which the vessel must be charged. As soon as they met, 
they imparted, and he received, what was lacking to make 
him an able minister of Jesus Christ. This meeting which 
took place on earth was arranged in heaven. It is not in 
man that walketh to direct his steps ; He who directs them 
hath done all things well. " Whoso is wise and will observe 
these things, even he shall understand the loving-kindness of 
the Lord." When disciples of Christ, coming from different 



400 



The Church in the House. 



directions, meet and hold intercourse, let them watch and 
pray. They may expect to give or to get: perhaps they 
may both give and get reciprocally. 

After profiting by his intercourse with Aquila and Pris- 
cilla, Apollos crossed over into the province of Achaia, and 
was of great use to the infant churches there. Paul had 
planted; but he was not able to remain long beside his 
work. The plants in the scorching of that season were 
ready to die : Apollos arrived opportunely to water them 
Paul planted the Church in Corinth ; Apollos watered it ; and 
God gave the increase. 



" And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three 
months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of 
God."— Acts xix. 8. 



HILE Apollos was ministering in Corinth, Paul, in 



t T fulfilment of his promise, returned to Ephesus. He 
had hastened eastward to Palestine, landed at Csesarea, 
hurried up to Jerusalem, and saluted the brethren there. 
Thence he travelled quickly northward to Antioch. From 
Antioch he started on his third missionary circle. Passing 
through Asia Minor, doing a little everywhere, but remain- 
ing long nowhere, he again came to Ephesus, the principal 
city of the whole region, on the western coast. It was the 
entrepot between Greece and Asia. 

The missionaries of the earliest age always found their 
way to the great cities. It was a wise method. The cities 
were the pulsing hearts of their several provinces; and 



LXXXI. 



CONVINCING AND PEESUADING. 




Convincing and Per steading. 40 r 



principles deposited there soon spread by natural arteries to 
all parts of the land. The missionaries skilfully seized the 
chief centres of influence and power. 

On his arrival at Ephesus, he found a little company of 
disciples in the heart of the great heathen city. All the 
Christianity of the place gravitated toward Paul. Like 
draws to like. The apostle in Ephesus was like a magnetic 
bar thrust into a great heap of rubbish : forthwith all the 
filings of real steel that existed in the miscellaneous mass 
were found adhering to its sides. The attraction and 
cohesion of kindred spirits is a beautiful and beneficent law 
of the new kingdom. 

We discover in this far-off region some direct results of 
the Baptist's preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Some 
of those who heard the preacher must have emigrated before 
the death of Christ and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. 
They had beheld, at John's invitation, the Lamb of God, 
and believed to the saving of their souls ; but they had not 
obtained the fuller knowledge of the gospel which came 
after the resurrection to the chosen witnesses. To these 
men, and in answer to their prayers for greater light, the 
apostle of the Gentiles was sent, as a vessel, bearing the 
name of Christ more fully revealed. As Philip was sent to 
the desert of Gaza with the water of life to the thirsting 
Ethiop, Paul was sent on the same errand to those twelve 
men and their companions who panted for the living water 
in the desert-place of a huge idolatrous city. The Lord 
knoweth them that are his, and how to find them out. He 
will never leave them, nor forsake them. 

He entered the synagogue as usual, and "spake boldly 
for the space of three months." In this book much is 
made of boldness. The early disciples felt their need of it, 
longed for it, prayed for it, and obtained it. Courage dis- 

2 c 



4-02 



The Church in the House. 



played by the preacher implies a cruel persecution by the 
enemies of the cross. Strange that when a message from 
heaven is about to be proclaimed, great courage should be 
requisite in the herald who bears it. The message is peace 
and pardon. Surely a servant of the government may risk 
himself in the very heart of a convict prison alone, if he is 
the bearer of a royal pardon for all the inmates. In such a 
case, it would not be necessary to look out for a man of rare 
courage, who might dare to carry the proclamation to the 
convicts. Give him but the message of free pardon, and he may 
go in unarmed with all safety, like Daniel in the den of lions. 

When Christ himself came to the world — the great con- 
vict prison of the universe — came the ambassador from God, 
bringing peace, they said, This is the heir ; come, let us kill 
him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; 
and the servant is not greater than his Lord. 

Do preachers of the gospel need courage still ? Not in 
the same sense and of the same kind. They are not put in 
prison for faithfulness in declaring the whole counsel of 
God. But as long as the carnal mind is enmity against 
God, there must be opposition to the gospel from some 
quarter. You might as well expect to escape from the law 
of gravitation when you travel to China, as expect that, 
when so many centuries have run their course, courage is no 
longer necessary to a preacher of the cross. The Jews 
opposed the gospel at an earlier stage. They opposed the 
publication of the doctrine : we allow the doctrine to pass 
freely from the preacher's lips, but do not permit the 
kingdom to come in power over our hearts and lives. If we 
should denounce as boldly that form of opposition to Christ 
which is rife amongst ourselves, as the apostles denounced 
that which prevailed in their day, perhaps we should taste 
some of their experience. 



Convincing and Persuading. 403 

In those days the testing-point lay higher up; in our 
days it lies lower down. Then the real struggle occurred at 
the profession ; now it occurs at the practice. The cross 
then was to own themselves the disciples of Christ ; it was 
this step that cost : the cross with us is not there ; it is easy 
for us to own his name ; the difficulty lies in so following 
him that our lives shall be a continual reproof. Their 
temptation was to fall into the track of the first son whom 
the father ordered to work in his vineyard — to say, " I will 
not." Our temptation is to copy the answer of the second, 
" I go, sir ;" and then to spend the day in seeking our own 
pleasures. The stress for them lay in the promise ; the 
stress for us lies in the performance. If modern ministers 
were as bold in demanding performance as the apostles were 
in demanding profession, perhaps their course would not 
flow so smoothly. 

The theme of the preacher was " the kingdom of God." 
The preaching of these men was a new thing in the world. 
They were not contented with a niche in the temple for 
another idol, a day in the calendar for an additional saint. 
They demanded the overthrow of all idols, and the establish- 
ment of another throne in their stead. They proposed a 
King who should be absolute and sole. 

The things that Paul preached did, no doubt, concern the 
kingdom in its final glory; but this kingdom in heaven 
afar, he uniformly presented as the legitimate and certain 
issue of a kingdom now established in believing hearts. 
First, the kingdom of heaven in you ; and next, you in the 
kingdom of heaven. Let Christ reign in you now, and you 
will reign with him in that day. If I leave him standing 
at the door knocking throughout the day of grace, he will 
leave me standing at the door knocking when the day of 
grace is done. 



404 The Church in the Hoitse. 

Mark the manner of the apostolic preaching : " disputing 
and persuading." The first makes the matter clear to the 
intellect, and the second makes it powerful on the will. 
The first enables you to know the true, and the second 
induces you to do the right. These are the two elements of 
which all right preaching consists. The proportions may 
vary indefinitely with circumstances ; but every sermon 
should contain, in some measure, both constituents. 

On the one hand, a discourse should not be merely 
exposition of doctrine ; it ought to persuade as well as 
unfold. The preacher may not meet the hearers again, 
until he is called to give an account. He ought to beseech 
them to be reconciled unto God. On the other hand, mere 
exhortation will not suffice. God, who has given us under- 
standing, expects us to exercise it in the highest of all con- 
cerns. He who would persuade his brethren to serve the 
Lord, should endeavour to convince them that it is a reason- 
able service. 

Disputing means reasoning ; but this does not imply that 
religion is founded on reason. Eeason is the builder, not 
the foundation. Eeason constructs religion, not on itself, 
but on the Scriptures. There is a good deal of pretence on 
this subject at the present day. Those who affect to be 
philosophers, freely insinuate that religious people put reason 
aside when they approach the spiritual sphere, and proceed 
upon faith instead. This is a false issue. Eeason and faith 
are not antagonistic, so that in accepting the one you discard 
the other. Eeason is no more discarded from religion than 
from philosophy. In former times human reason occupied 
too exalted a place in philosophy. It was made the founda- 
tion; and the structure, consequently, crumbled and fell. 
Bacon introduced a radical reform. He removed reason from 
its usurped position as a foundation, and gave it the place 



Convincing and Persuading. 405 



of operator. For basis lie substituted ascertained facts ; on 
these, as a foundation, reason was permitted to rear her fabric, 
and a goodly palace meets our view to-day as the result of 
this new method. By the Eeformation a parallel process 
was established in the sphere of religion. As the facts of 
the material or mental creation constitute the basis on which 
reason builds a philosophy, so the doctrines and facts of 
revelation constitute the basis on which reason builds a 
theology. On both spheres reason is the builder, not the basis. 

In regard to the place of reason in the domain of religion, 
two opposite extremes exist. Positivism makes reason 
everything ; Popery makes it nothing. The one will make 
it master ; the other will not permit it even to serve. The 
Protestant principle stands midway between these extremes. 
It permits and demands the free exercise of human reason, 
but limits it in this domain to what is revealed in the 
Word : precisely as the Baconian philosophy permits and 
demands the exercise of human reason in the sphere of 
philosophy, but limits it to the observed facts and laws of 
nature. 

After expounding the truth, the preacher persuades his 
auditors to comply with it. Exposition is necessary but 
not sufficient ; without it you must fail, but even with it 
you may fail. Though the understanding be convinced, 
the will may remain perverse. A man may be convinced 
that God is lovely, and yet not love God. You may own 
that Christ is offered to you, and yet not accept Christ. 
You may know truth, and yet follow lies. This is a fact in 
history ; it cannot reasonably be denied, and should not be 
carelessly overlooked. It is a startling and solemnising dis- 
covery. Paul was greatly moved when he found " a law in 
his members " warring against the law of God which was in 
his mind. His understanding was carried ; but his heart 



40 6 The Church in the House. 

still resisted. In his own experience he found out the 
power which was able to control the wi]l and mould the 
life. The love of Christ constrained him, when all other 
motives failed. This power, accordingly, he was always 
ready to apply when he found reasoning to be impotent. 
He will beseech his Eoman correspondents to yield them- 
selves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God ; but he 
beseeches them " by the mercies of God/' He depends on 
this weight to overcome the inertia of the carnal mind, and 
set heart and life in motion like a running stream in the 
service of God and man. 

The two great constituents of the Christian ministry are 
to convince and persuade ; to enlighten the understanding, 
and to win souls. 



LXXXII. 

THE STRONG MAN CAST OUT BY THE STRONGER. 

" But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way 
before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, 
disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the 
space of two years ; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of 
the Lord Jesus, both Jews and G-reeks. And God wrought special miracles 
by the hands of Paul," etc.— Acts xix. 9-17. 

JESUS, preached by Paul in Ephesus, did not bring peace 
to its people. In the first instance there was a sword. 
"Divers were hardened and believed not." These Jews 
spoke evil of " the way." Christ announced himself as the 
way, and the only way, to the Father ; but when he came to 
his own, they received him not. They would have none of 
him. The servant retired from those who rejected his 
Master. He obtained accommodation in the school of one 



The Strong Man cast out by the Stronger. 407 



Tyrannus, and taught there for two years. It is not certain 
whether Tyrannus was a Jew or a Greek. In either case 
his academy was independent of the synagogue, and thus he 
was enabled to shelter the preacher of the cross. 

All that dwelt in Asia heard the gospel. The people 
from the surrounding country and the adjacent towns took 
an opportunity of hearing the new doctrines when they came 
to the capital on business. This method prevailed in the 
times of the Eeformation. The country people, after having 
sold their produce in the market-square, crept into the 
neighbouring church and heard the Scriptures expounded. 
Then they returned to their homes with both gains — one in 
their hearts, and the other in their pockets. Thus the 
Word had free course, and was glorified throughout the 
neighbouring provinces. 

Besides the preaching of the Word, special miracles were 
wrought in Ephesus. The passage is somewhat obscure 
There may have been some testimony given to Paul's word 
in that heathen city, on account of the magicians who plied 
their craft there, similar to the signs wrought by Aaron in 
presence of the Egyptian wonder-workers. In any case 
this was not the ordinary experience of Paul. It was 
peculiar and extraordinary. An exceptional testimony is 
vouchsafed to him once in exceptional circumstances, and it 
is wide as the world apart from the degrading and tricky 
traffic in spurious relics, which has become a permanent in- 
stitution of the Papacy. 

As the Egyptian magicians in some form imitated the 
signs wrought by Moses, the soothsayers of Ephesus — in this 
case disreputable Jews — attempted to work wonders in 
imitation of Paul by pronouncing the name of Jesus. There 
is much material for thought in the answer given by the 
possessed maniac to these sorcerers : " Jesus I know, and 



408 The Church in the House. 

Paul I know • but who are ye ? " It is the same in kind 
with the response of the Pythoness at Philippi. It is a re- 
markable declaration. It is not only out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings that the Lord can draw forth his own 
praise ; he can make the wicked praise him, as well as the 
weak. Such a testimony was borne by an unclean spirit to 
the Lord himself : " I know thee, who thou art, ithe Holy 
One of God." 

An application of this Scripture is possible to our own 
day and our own circumstances. The evil spirit seems to 
possess, and energise, and wield at will, certain classes and 
sections of the people. They seem like the man who cut 
himself and wore no clothes, and dwelt among the tombs. 
They are a torment to themselves, and a terror to their neigh- 
bours. They might have clothes, and food, and home ; but 
they wildly cast all these away, and live like the beasts. 

The evil spirits of the present time, like those of Paul's 
day, are subject only to one power. They do not give way 
before reading and writing. New houses and good wages 
will not drive them out. Even the prison and the gibbet 
fail to scare them. A goodly number of the legion have in 
our sight been cast out ; but the work is done by the name 
of Jesus. Many of them are even now sitting at his feet, 
clothed and in their right mind. There is no healing for 
these wounds of the body politic except in the gospel of 
Christ, borne to the hearts and homes of the outcasts by the 
self-sacrificing love of them that believe. 

None other than He who made the world at first can 
make it new again. "Jesus I know :" this witness is true, 
even though the evil spirit utter it. Yes, prince of this 
world, thou knowest him to be the Holy One of God. Thou 
hast felt him crushing thy head each time that a slave of 
sin has been ransomed and renewed. Thou, strong man, 



The Strong Man cast out by the Stronger. 409 

holding a human soul captive, bound in the thongs of its 
own lusts, hast felt the power of the Stronger, wrenching one 
by one a multitude of victims from thy grasp. Thou knowest, 
too, this J esus in his mercy to men ; for often, when thou 
hast set a snare for a believer's feet and made him stumble, 
and when there was a shout in the camp of the adversary as 
if one of Christ's saved were lost again, thou hast been com- 
pelled to relax thy hold and yield up the backslider to the 
Lord that bought him at the first, and has healed again his 
backsliding. 

Nor is it only Jesus the Saviour whom the evil spirits 
know and acknowledge; they know in the same way the 
ministers whom he employs. "Jesus I know, and Paul I 
know." Christ has personally ascended ; it is by his servants, 
as his instruments, now that he reaches down to the lost and 
saves them. The powers of darkness know all who yield 
themselves instruments of righteousness unto God. In this 
respect the servants share the Master's lot : " If they have 
persecuted me, they will also persecute you." 

The first Atlantic cable was broken and lost. It sank to 
the bottom where the sea was several miles deep. Though 
buoys were left at the spot, they drifted away. Who shall 
now find the spot in that pathless ocean where the precious 
line is lying ; and who shall bring it up, although the place 
were known ? 

They find the spot, not by marks on the sea, but by the 
lights that are fixed in heaven. Hovering over it, they drop 
their grappling-irons, and pay out line till they strike the 
ground. They feel in that dark abyss — feel for the lost. By 
the instrument sent down they grasp the broken cable and 
haul it up. They bring the dead to life, and through it thought 
throbs again in pulses of unseen fire from shore to shore. 

That lost line seems like a human soul in its sin. This 



4 1 o The Church in the House. 

creature that God has made for himself, and qualified to 
receive and transmit his own Divine will, has fallen, has 
fallen. The prey seems secure in the jaws of the pit. But 
down in that abyss an instrument of salvation touches the 
lost. The powers of darkness who thought their victim 
secure, learned to know both the Living One on high who 
planned redemption, and the instrument which he employed 
in his work. " Jesus I know, and Paul I know." 

Lend me your imagination for a moment, that by aid of 
it I may go yet one step further on the line of this analogy. 
Suppose that broken, lost line a conscious intelligence, cut 
off from all communion with his kind in that dark abyss, 
despairing. It is dark ; there is none who can reach him to 
save. Lost, for ever. Now imagine that this despairing 
creature feels some instrument touching him from above — 
touching him with intelligence, power, and love — touching 
him with intent to save. Suppose he feels himself grasped, 
and drawn up — up, and ever up through the dark waters. 
At length light begins to dawn overhead, and increases as 
he rises, like the morning. At length he emerges into the 
light of heaven, is restored to life, and enters the society of 
his kind again. 

Such is the lost estate of the sinful ; and such the re- 
demption that Jesus brings. 



LXXXIII. 

THE TWO DIMENSIONS — BEEADTH AND DEPTH. 

" So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." — Acts xix. 20. 

CHEISTIANITY was new in those days. The dew of its 
youth was on it ; the experience of its disciples accord- 
ingly was fresh and tender. If their knowledge was less 



The two Dimensions, — Breadth and Depth. 4 1 1 



extensive than ours, their life was perhaps more vigorous, 
and their love more warm. The faith of those ancient be- 
lievers excelled in directness and simplicity ; when it had 
less of human attainment, it had more of Divine power. 

It is better to have a faith which you cannot explain, than 
to be able to explain a faith which you do not enjoy. Here 
is a philosopher who understands thoroughly the circulation 
of the blood, but whose blood, through lack of vital vigour 
in the heart is almost standing stagnant in his veins ; and 
there is a little child, whose blood bounds through his body 
like a mountain-stream at every pulse, but who does not 
know that the blood is circulating in his veins. The philo- 
sopher would fain change places with the child. Give me 
at all hazards the spiritual life, and let me add a scientific 
theology if I can. It is better to believe in Christ to the 
saving of the soul, although you could not demonstrate the 
nature and origin of saving faith, than to possess the power 
of analysing faith so as to resolve it into its elements, while 
you do not yourself believe to the saving of your soul. 

Faith in those days seems to have been simple, and direct, 
and strong, like life in childhood. Such was the experience 
of the Ethiopian treasurer. He thirsted for the redemption 
of Christ, as dry land thirsts for rain from heaven ; on his 
thirsting soul the water of life was poured from the Scrip- 
tures through Philip's ministry ; the thirsty traveller drank 
the living water, and went on his way rejoicing. 

The instrument which these primitive preachers wielded 
was " the Word of God." They had no confidence in the 
enticing words of man's wisdom. In simple faith they set 
forth Him who is the Word of life, and looked to the Spirit 
for the quickening power. This method was successful. 
Great results immediately appeared. 

The terms employed to express these results are worthy of 



412 The Church in the Hotise. 

special attention. The "Word " grew and prevailed." The 
work of these missionaries, like that of the husbandman, has 
two dimensions — breadth and depth. One measurement 
indicates the superficial extent of the field, and another the 
perpendicular depth of the furrow. The gospel, through the 
preaching of those ministers, reached a great multitude, and 
it penetrated the joints and marrow of each. The Word is 
said to " grow " when it spreads widely in the world, and to 
" prevail " when it makes all things new in the heart and 
life of a believer. 

The Word of the Lord grew. The mustard- seed dropped 
into the ground, became a spreading tree. In the hands of 
Paul and his associates, it soon overshadowed the philosophy 
of Greece, and the arms of Eome. 

For a long period during the Middle Ages the Word of the 
Lord did not in this sense grow. A very general corruption 
overlaid and choked the Word in Europe, and the power of 
Mohammed quenched its light in vast regions of the East. 
After the Eeformation, the Word, brought up from its grave 
again, lived and grew afresh. In our own day, it displays 
all the energy of its youth. Its way has been better prepared 
in recent times, and accordingly it has reached many regions 
which the feet of the apostles never trod. The Lord reigneth. 
He has remembered Zion, and is healing her breaches. He 
is building up the walls of his own J erusalem ; children are 
playing again on her long-desolate streets. A good time has 
come, and a better time is coming. Those who have lived 
during the earlier half of the present century have seen great 
things, and those who live out the latter half will see greater. 

The Word of the Lord prevailed. It put forth a power 
which penetrated every obstacle, and bore its message home. 
A thing which is in its own nature beneficent may be widely 
diffused, and yet fail to confer a benefit for lack of power to 



The two Dimensions, — Breadth and Depth. 4 1 3 

penetrate. Sunlight in summer floods the polar regions in 
continuous day, and yet no grass grows green — no harvest 
field grows yellow — under its beautiful beams. The light 
grows there into an immense diffusion, but does not prevail 
to melt the ice and fructify the soil. Times have passed 
over our own beloved country in which the gospel was like 
the light of a polar summer — shining everywhere, but melt- 
ing nowhere. And the same phenomenon may be observed 
at present in some districts of Europe that are distinguished 
as Protestant. Men may be proud of Christianity, and yet 
ashamed of Christ. Our lot has fallen in more pleasant 
places ; we have obtained a better heritage. God has in 
mercy granted to his Church a little reviving. Besides the 
growth of the Word in its diffusion over the land and amon? 
the nations, there has been a prevailing of the Word in the 
conviction and the conversion of sinners. 

May the kingdom come not in word only, but also in power. 
We have precious seed, and there are many sowers ; it re- 
mains that we give heed to the ancient prophet's specific 
exhortation : " Break up your fallow ground, and sow not 
among thorns." 

" So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed." The 
form of the expression directs us to the preceding verses for 
an enumeration of the effects actually produced at that time 
by the preaching of the Word. 

1. " Fear fell on them all." Both in the nature of the 
case, and in the experience of the Church, this result is first 
in order. The sense of need is an essential preparation for 
the reception of the remedy. The immediate means of pro- 
ducing fear are various. The earthquake that shook the 
prison first alarmed the jailer ; the crowing of the cock was 
the spark that fell on Peter's heart and set it on fire. At 
one time it may be some external danger, and at another a 



414 The Church in the House. 

still, small inner voice ; but in all cases of conversion at first, 
or reviving afterwards, a fear springs in the conscience, and 
constrains the convicted to flee for refuge to the hope set 
before him. That fear is blessed, which, like the approach 
of the wolf, compels the wandering sheep to return to the 
fold. When heads that heretofore were held high in pride 
begin to droop on sobbing breasts ; when groanings which 
cannot be articulately uttered begin to rend the frame, as the 
thaw of spring rends the ice which spanned the river ; when 
the pent-up agony of the inner man gathers itself up at last 
into the cry, What must I do to be saved? — the fear is 
blessed, not for its own sake as a result, but for what it 
promises as a symptom. 

2. " The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." This is 
a sure mark of a genuine and thorough spiritual progress. 
It is dangerous when a religious movement brings men's 
names into great prominence. It is true that those who 
preach with much success must endure a large measure of 
publicity. The city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. But 
neither the successful preacher nor his friends for him should 
court this distinction. Human hearts are in their own 
nature all too liable to spontaneous combustion ; no wise 
man will do anything to fan the flame either in his own or 
his neighbour's breast. The preacher who on this occasion 
proclaimed the gospel with success, has taught us by his own 
example to handle roughly this tendency to idolatrous adula- 
tion. " I am of Paul," said one large and very evangelical 
section of Christians in a certain Church ; but this minister 
was not pleased to see his own name placarded in too large 
letters on the walls. I think I see him breaking forth like 
a tempest upon those too zealous admirers. Extending his 
frame, and raising his arm, and knitting his brow, the fire 
flashing from his eyes as he spoke, he hurled at the obse- 



The two Dimensions, — Breadth and Depth. 4 1 5 



quious partisans the piercing challenge, — " Was Paul cruci- 
fied for you ? " 

Convicts and converts should enter their closets and shut 
the doors, and forgetting the preachers of the Word, occupy 
themselves with the Christ whom they preached. When the 
stars grow bright, it is a proof that the sun is down ; while 
the sun is shining, the stars, though still in their places, 
cannot be seen. Let Jesus be magnified, and all instruments 
will be lost in his light. 

3. " Many that believed came, and showed their deeds," 
etc. I assume that this confession of sin to men was the 
external accompaniment of confession in secret to the Lord. 
Confession of sin to one another is a suitable body ; but if 
it be not animated by the living soul of confession to God, 
it is nothing but a carcass. 

They who believed, confessed. They did not confess until 
they believed. You do not throw away one portion until 
you begin to get hold of a better. The prodigal, I suppose, 
kept his rags closely round his person as long as they con- 
stituted his only covering ; it is when he gets the fair robe 
from his father's hand that he casts the filthy garments pas- 
sionately away. You will never show your own deeds and 
count them vile either before God or man, until you begin 
to see the way of pardon. 

When Christ forgives a soul, he gets that soul's secrets ; 
when he gets a soul's secrets, he forgives that soul's sins. 

4. " They who used curious arts, brought their books and 
burned them." The converts on this occasion were of the 
baser sort. The apostle had disturbed a nest of fortune- 
tellers and sorcerers that were burrowing under the shadow 
of Diana's temple, and preying on the dissipated multitudes 
of Ephesus. Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be 
gathered together. To the poor the gospel is preached. The 



4 1 6 The Church in the House. 

Master received sinuers; his servants followed his steps. 
The most damaged specimens of humanity will serve the 
Lord's purpose when they have been renewed into his own 
likeness. Manufacturers of paper do not reject the raw 
material because it is torn and filthy. These sorcerers who 
plied their disreputable trade in the precincts of a heathen 
temple, will be beautiful when they are new creatures in 
Christ. 

How quickly the tree, when it is made good, brings forth 
its pleasant fruit ! They gave up their trade and their stock- 
in-trade as soon as in the light of life they saw it to be 
sinful. Their right arm they resolutely cut off as soon as 
they perceive that it injures themselves and dishonours the 
Lord. Would that all the Pharisees of the modern Church 
should, in this respect, follow the footsteps of these publicans 
and sinners as they entered the kingdom of heaven ! 



LXXXIV. 
THE UPROAR IN EPHESUS. 

' 1 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed 
through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have 
been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them 
that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus ; but he himself stayed 
in Asia for a season. And the same time there arose no small stir about 
that way," etc.— Acts xix. 21-41. 

THE sphere of the Christian Church is rapidly enlarging; 
and the ideas of the great missionary are enlarging 
along with it. Ephesus is now a station in the middle of 
his field. He proposes to make a journey eastward to 
Jerusalem, and afterwards to visit Rome. " I must also see 
Rome : " yes, Paul, this is a necessity in the plan of Pro- 



The Uproar in Ephesus. 



4i7 



vidence ; but thou knowest not yet in what capacity thou 
shalt travel to the capital. What thou knowest not now, 
thou shalt know hereafter. Sufficient unto the day is the 
evil thereof. If we could see as far before us as by memory 
we can see behind, our courage would fail and we should 
faint by the way. He who leads us sees his own way : it is 
better for us to be led blindfold. 

At this time a great commotion occurred in Ephesus, 
which the historian has minutely related. There arose no 
small stir about the way, — that is, about the gospel which 
Paul had preached. The emeute did not spring directly from 
the fanaticism of the idolaters; it had a baser origin. Certain 
artificers of the city had been accustomed to carry on a pro- 
fitable trade in the manufacture of small models in silver, 
both of the temple and the image of the goddess. These 
men perceived that the general acceptance of Paul's doctrine 
would inevitably drain the sources of their trade. To save 
their own profits, therefore, they endeavoured to crush or 
banish the foreign preachers by a popular tumult. 

The temple of Diana at Ephesus held a high place among 
heathen shrines. It had a romantic history. It was built 
on artificial foundations in a marsh below the city, as a 
security against earthquakes. The sumptuous edifice was 
destroyed by fire in 356 B.C. A fanatic named Hesostratus 
confessed that he set it on fire in order to make his own 
name immortal. It was destroyed the same night in which 
Alexander the Great was born. It was restored in still 
greater splendour ; the dimensions of the new temple were 
425 feet by 220. It had 127 columns, 60 feet in height. 
This second edifice was standing in all its glory at the date 
of Paul's visit. 

It was consecrated to Diana, one of the twelve greater 
deities of the Greeks. She was worshipped as a huntress, 

2D 



4i8 



The Church in the House. 



and also as the moon. The month of May was sacred to her, 
and was called Diana's month. It is abundantly obvious 
that a great portion of Eomish Mariolatry was born in a dark 
age from the worship of Diana. The appellation Queen 
of Heaven, and the designation of May as Mary's month, 
are evidently old pagan rites, repainted and regilded for 
modern use. 

A mob of interested artificers, instigated and headed by 
Demetrius the silversmith, attempted to suppress by violence 
the liberty of the gospel in Ephesus. The oration of this 
demagogue is in outline preserved. It is an interesting 
antique. Its arguments are skilfully constructed. They are 
well fitted to gain the object which the speaker had in view. 
Not relying on one ground, he cunningly groups two or 
three reasons together in order to enlist a greater number on 
his side. The craftsmen are reminded that the prevalence 
of the gospel means loss of employment, and starvation for 
themselves and their families : the zealous idolaters are told 
that the temple of the great goddess will be despised : and 
the patriotic citizens are warned that with the decadence of 
the temple, the supremacy which Ephesus enjoyed among 
the neighbouring provinces will certainly disappear. The 
prosperity of the city depended on the popularity of the 
Diana-worship. The religious capital of Asia will dwindle 
into insignificance if Paul's doctrine prevail. 

This inflammatory address was successful. The meeting 
was stirred into rage. Indications appear in the narrative 
that the preachers were gaining adherents among the culti- 
vated classes. The town-clerk and some of the Asiarchs 
were, if not positively believers in Paul's doctrine, at least 
favourable to free discussion. 

After the speech of Demetrius, the multitude rushed 
tumultuously into the theatre. Ancient theatres were 



The Uproar in Ephesns. 



419 



entirely different in structure from the edifices known by 
the same name in modern times and more northerly latitudes. 
They were immense structures shaped like the hull of a 
ship, without roof, having a level space of oval shape at 
the bottom for the performers, and seats in tiers for the 
spectators. 

Paul's impulse was to go into the theatre, and speak in 
his own defence. His friends, however, by a friendly 
constraint, prevented him from risking his life in that 
excited mob. 

A certain Jew named Alexander was put forward by his 
countrymen to address the crowd. Probably he was selected 
as spokesman in order to show the Greek population that 
among Paul's own countrymen there were many who did not 
take his part. But whatever may have been the policy of 
the leaders in selecting this man, it signally failed. The 
people would not listen ; they hooted him down. This was 
the commencement of a violent uproar. For two hours the 
living contents of the vast amphitheatre heaved like the sea 
in a storm, shouting in chorus, " Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians !" This extraordinary commotion was at length 
quelled by the presence and authority of the town-clerk, a 
magistrate who, by right of office, was accustomed to read all 
public documents in the assemblies of the people. Yielding 
to habit, the assembly settled down into quietude when this 
great officer presented himself. His address was sensible 
and moderate. He gently flattered the populace. Having 
soothed them into a calmer spirit, he skilfully insinuated 
some cogent arguments against their riotous proceedings. 
A plain hint of possible penal consequences for this outrage 
on the liberty of peaceable inhabitants finally brought the 
rioters to reason, and the assembly was quietly dismissed. 

Some incidental statements and allusions in the speech of 



1 42 o The Church in the House. 

the town-clerk are worthy of attention here. A prevailing 
tradition that the rude little wooden image preserved in a 
particular shrine of the temple had originally fallen down 
from Jupiter (or the sky, for the same word has both 
meanings), he skilfully assumes as an acknowledged fact; 
although it is very doubtful whether this trained official had 
faith in it. It is a general rule in all forms of idolatry, that 
those idols are most reverenced that are covered with the 
rust of antiquity, and encircled with miraculous legends. 
This seems inconsistent with the apology usually given by 
Romish controversialists for the veneration of images. 
They are accustomed to represent that the devotees do not 
worship the image before which they kneel ; but employ it 
as a help to raise their conceptions to the being whom the 
image represents. If that were true, the best executed 
likeness would be most effective in aiding the spirit of 
devotion. But practically this is not the case. The most 
ungainly and repulsive representations which enjoy a reputa- 
tion for sanctity, are frequented in preference to the most 
perfect results of the sculptor's art. The worshipper is 
moved by a conception that there is something sacred in the 
image itself. This is the nature and the fruit of all idolatry. 
If we disregard the letter of the law, we shall inevitably trans- 
gress its spirit : "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them." 

"These men," continues the town-clerk, "are neither 
robbers of churches nor blasphemers of your goddess." It 
would appear from this that Paul had proceeded at Ephesus 
with the same caution which he had displayed at Athens. 
He effectually undermined all idolatry by preaching Christ ; 
but he did not fly in the face of what his audience considered 
sacred. His argument was always grave and considerate. 
He would not needlessly trample on the prejudices of the 
heathen. 



A Communion Sabbath at Troas. 42 1 

We obtain here a glimpse of the regular method in which 
the law was administered in the Eoman Empire. The 
town-clerk was able to say in the public assembly that the 
courts of justice were open, and that every citizen who had 
a grievance was at liberty to bring his case in a regular way 
before the judge. The Eoman power allowed a large 
measure of spontaneous action to the municipalities of con- 
quered provinces in the regulation of internal affairs; but 
they would not tolerate tumults that endangered the public 
peace. Thus the apostles were again delivered by the 
legitimate action of a regular government. The powers that 
be are ordained of God. The shields of the earth are his ; 
and he knows how to throw now one and now another 
around his servants to preserve their lives for subsequent 
usefulness. He sits king on all these floods ; and will make 
the tumults of the people turn out for the furtherance of 
the gospel. 



LXXXV. 

A COMMUNION SABBATH AT TROAS. 

"And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and 
embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had 
gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into 
Greece," etc. — Acts xx. 1-12. 

" TY SCEETI0N " is tne better P art of valour." Although 
JlJ that proverb is often tauntingly employed in a 
sinister sense, it contains and conveys a precious practical 
truth. Valour is often crippled and deprived of its result 
for want of its "better part." A man who has courage 
without prudence is apt to throw away his life. 



422 The Church in the House. 

Paul was as remarkable for his caution as for his courage. 
When duty calls and a grand object may be gained, he will 
not count his life dear unto himself ; but he will count his 
life very dear both to the Lord and the Church if he can 
preserve it from needless danger, and so retain it for future 
use. This is the distinction between a hero and a fanatic. 
A true hero will preserve his life as far as he can with 
honour, and will never give it away cheap. 

Ordinary opposition from Jews or Gentiles the apostle 
scarcely regrets. He would rather have waters stirred by 
such a breeze than waters stagnant, for his great operation 
as a fisher of men. Accordingly we learn that " the many 
adversaries" are reckoned among the grounds of encourage- 
ment to continue his work in this city. But when such a 
serious tumult occurs as that which has just been quelled by 
the address of the town-clerk, he considers that he will better 
serve the great cause by bending to the blast than by braving 
it. He will not, by mere bravado, make the place too hot 
for the Christians afterwards. It will be expedient to retire 
in the meantime, and allow the troubled sea to subside. 

Besides, his work was done in Ephesus. He had spent 
eighteen months almost constantly there. The seed of the 
Word had taken root. The tumult was the evidence and 
the measure of his success. New work awaits him in an- 
other place. This missionary must arise and run his race. 

He determines to revisit Macedonia, but first there must 
be a farewell meeting with the Christians of Ephesus. " He 
called the disciples." How the meeting was summoned we 
do not know, but we know from all history that amazing 
powers of intercommunication exist among a persecuted 
people. Sufferers are inventive in the matter of signalling 
to their friends. It has often puzzled tyrants to comprehend 
how their victims obtain information. It appears sometimes 



A Communion Sabbath at Troas. 423 



as if the ground were a network of telegraphs, transmitting 
from the dungeon the groans of the prisoners. By some 
word that passed surely and quickly through the circle of 
disciples, all the faithful in the city were conveued. There 
is no report of Paul's parting address, hut it is certain he 
would not omit so good an opportunity of exhorting that 
infant Church in the heart of a heathen metropolis. Some 
burning words would drop from his lips as he embraced 
them, one by one, and commended them to the grace of 
God. These tender partings are profitable though painful. 
They drive home some precious lessons that were lying on 
the surface and liable to be rubbed off. 

On leaving Ephesus it was his design to go to Macedonia, 
but there was a long delay ere he reached it. The history 
here is a very meagre outline. Materials exist in the Epistles 
for filling up the blank, but it will not be expedient here to 
gather up the scattered threads. Let it suffice to mention 
merely the successive stages without writing down the vari- 
ous references. 

From Ephesus he went to Troas, on the western coast of 
Asia Minor. He meant to remain and establish a Church 
there ; for when he was at that place before, he was hastening 
over in answer to the call from Macedonia, and could not 
begin any mission work. Titus had been despatched to 
Corinth, bearer of the epistle to the Church of that city, and 
Paul expected his messenger to meet him at Troas with news 
from the congregation at Corinth. He longed to learn how 
the letter had been received, and what effects it had produced. 
We may assume that while he tarried at Troas he watched 
eagerly every ship that arrived, to learn if Titus were on 
board. Months passed, and no appearance of Titus. Hope 
deferred made the heart sick. He had no rest, because the 
care of the Corinthian Church, with its contentions and 



424 The Church in the House. 

schisms, lay like a millstone on his heart. But though 
sorrowful, he was not idle. He preached in Troas. He 
found an open door ; he planted a Church. 

At length, unable to wait longer, he crossed the sea to 
Macedonia without having obtained news from Corinth. 
Among the converts at Philippi he was at home again. 
While he was enjoying there the society of his friends, 
Titus at last joined him, bringing good news from Corinth. 
His letter had been received with greater favour than he 
expected. The divisions were healed, and prosperity restored. 
The converts acknowledged the great apostle's authority, and 
submitted themselves to his reproof. This good news from 
a far country was as cold waters to his thirsty soul. " When 
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we 
were troubled on every side ; without were fightings, within 
were fears. Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that 
are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus ; and 
not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith 
he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest 
desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me ; so 
that I rejoiced the more" (2 Cor. vii. 5-7). 

At last Paul, leaving Macedonia, came himself into Greece. 
Although it is the country only that is mentioned, it was 
doubtless chiefly at Corinth that he spent his time. He 
remained about three months. When his work was accom- 
plished there, he desired to go by sea from Corinth to the 
East; but having discovered a plot laid by the Jews to 
assassinate him, he changed his plan, and travelled north- 
ward once more into Macedonia. 

Seven men, whose names and nations are recorded, accom- 
panied Paul on the journey as delegates from the Christians 
of various provinces, to present the contributions of the West 
to the impoverished disciples in Judsea. This deputation 



A* Communion Sabbath at Troas. 425 

was appointed, not merely as bearers of the gift, but mainly 
to express to the Church in Jerusalem the sympathy of 
Gentile believers, if so be the two constituents of the 
Church might be run into one by offices of love, and all 
jealousies between Jews and Greeks be nipped in the bud. 
We know that Paul experienced a great desire to be at 
Jerusalem by the Pentecost, which occurred seven weeks 
after his departure from Macedonia. He was bringing with 
him, in these seven delegates, the first-fruits of the Gentiles, 
a pledge and foretaste of an abundant harvest. At one 
Pentecost the Word as a seed had gone forth from Jerusalem, 
and at another Pentecost the fruit that sprang from that 
seed shall be brought back. The sower who had gone forth 
weeping, bearing precious seed, will return rejoicing, bringing 
his sheaves with him 

The seven delegates crossed the sea to Troas, while Paul 
and Luke remained for a time at Philippi, probably induced 
by urgent entreaties of the Christians that he should minister 
to them at the approaching passover. The ship in which 
Paul and Luke at last took passage must have been detained 
by rough weather or other causes to us unknown, as the 
voyage occupied five days. Having rejoined their comrades 
at Troas, they remained there another week. There is here 
a clear trace of Sabbath observance, and that on the first day 
of the week. They landed on a Monday, the second day of 
the week, and left on a Monday. The disciples at Troas 
assembled for public worship and the communion on the 
first day of the week. Paul preached the evening sermon, 
and proceeded on his journey next day. Although he was 
hastening eastward he must remain in Troas no less than 
seven days, because, through the disappointing length of the 
voyage, he did not arrive till the Lord's-day was past. This 
consecration of the first day was neither Jewish nor pagan ; 



426 The Church in the House. 

it was distinctively Christian. It is interesting to meet with 
the institution of the Christian Sabbath very clearly marked 
in that early age. From that day to this all Christians have 
agreed to make the day of the Lord's resurrection a day of 
rest from common labour — a space cleared for communion 
between the members and their exalted head. 

The case of the young man who, having fallen asleep, fell 
from a great height, seems to be introduced into the narrative 
mainly for the purpose of showing the mighty power of God 
in his restoration. But it reveals incidentally an interesting 
fact, that the evening sermon on that communion Sabbath 
was prolonged till midnight. After the assembly was dis- 
missed the preacher needed and obtained refreshing food, and 
held protracted conversations with inquirers. In this occu- 
pation the night was spent, and the earnest groups were 
surprised by the break of day. Paul and his companions 
resumed their journey with the daylight, without having 
retired to rest at all. 

This incident does not prove that the preaching of the 
gospel in the public assembly should ordinarily be prolonged 
far into the night; but it proves that, on great occasions, 
when the people are in earnest, and especially if the preacher 
is about to leave the country with little prospect of returning, 
if the preaching be prolonged far into the night, nothing 
harmful or unreasonable has been done. For such an object 
a night's rest might well be given away. 

In modern fashionable society, great companies of young 
and old not unfrequently protract their amusements till the 
unwelcome sunlight expose too faithfully their faded finery ; 
and yet some of these very persons would be the first to cry 
out in most virtuous displeasure against late religious meet- 
ings in a reviving time. It is not difficult to thread our way 
through these labyrinths. The right way may be found and 



Paul's Address to the Elders of Ephesus. 427 



followed. The rule is plain, written clearly by the finger of 
God on earth and sky : the day for useful labour, and the 
silent night for rest. But great cardinal points occur here 
and there in the life of men which invite and justify occa- 
sional exceptions. To hear the word of life from the lips of 
an inspired apostle when you do not expect to hear his voice 
again, is one of these points ; and to watch by the sick-bed 
of a brother, who needs your help, is another. But so clear 
is the law assigning the night for rest, that a great solid 
ground is required to sustain an exception. Such a ground 
occurred at Troas when Paul preached. Blessed, busy night 
for the Christians of that place : they would be more refreshed 
by it than by the sweetest slumbers. 



LXXXYI. 

PAUL'S ADDRESS TO THE ELDERS OF EPHESUS. 

" And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in 
Paul : for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. And when he 
met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene," etc. — Acts 
xx. 13-30. 

IN sailing from Troas to Assos a ship must go round a 
projecting tongue of land, and a passenger may cross 
the neck of the peninsula and reach the port on its southern 
side before the ship has made the circuit. Paul alone pre- 
ferred the short land journey ; all the rest sailed round the 
headland. The details of the voyage, though interesting in 
many aspects, are not necessary for our purpose : we pass 
them accordingly, and meet the party at Miletus, the harbour 
at which they would disembark if they meant to go to 
Ephesus. Paul had made up his mind not to visit Ephesus 



428 The Church in the House. 

at this time, not because he loved it less, but because he loved 
it more. He can afford to go on shore at Miletus, for that 
place had not power to detain him, when he was bent on 
another object ; but knowing himself and his friends, he has 
a presentiment that if he go up to the city to visit them, fare- 
well to his prospect of being in Jerusalem at Pentecost. 
Because his love of the disciples at Ephesus was very great, 
therefore on this occasion he did not venture to intrust him- 
self among them. Having landed at Miletus, he sent a 
message to the elders, requesting them to meet him on the 
sea-shore. The distance was about thirty miles. These 
same men who are here called elders are addressed (ver. 28) 
as bishops. 1 And so it is placed beyond controversy that at 
that early date a number of grave and good men, named 
indifferently elders or bishops, were conjoined in the over- 
sight of the disciples resident in one city. 

The address which Paul delivered to the Ephesian elders 
at Miletus is recorded at considerable length. It is a precious 
and pregnant document. It is a rich legacy to the Church in 
all ages and all lands. It does not accord with our plan, how- 
ever, to expound and apply this discourse with a fulness 
proportionate to its intrinsic worth. Precisely because of 
its exceeding richness, we must leave the greater part of it 

1 Controversial matters are in these expositions sedulously avoided, but this 
point is not now properly a matter of controversy. The most learned and eminent 
critics of the Episcopal communion acknowledge frankly that the term translated 
" overseers" should have been rendered bishops, as it is in all other places where 
it occurs. 

It may be satisfactory to some of our readers to see the late Dean Alford's note 
on this subject. " So early did interested and disingenuous interpretations begin 
to cloud the light which Scripture might have thrown on ecclesiastical questions. 
The English version has hardly dealt fairly in this case with the sacred text in 
rendering e7no-Kd7rov? (ver. 28) overseers, whereas it ought there, as in all other 
places, to have been ' bishops,' that the fact of elders having been originally and 
apostolically synonymous might be apparent to the ordinary English reader, which 
now it is not."— Alford on Acts xx. 28. 



P aid's Address to the Elders of Ephesus. 429 

untouched; for even a moderately full exposition of this 
chapter would occupy all the space that can be allotted to 
this series. A few detached expository and practical notes 
on some of its leading topics must for the present suffice. 

After some very tender allusions to Jerusalem, and the 
uncertainty of the reception that awaited him there, he pro- 
ceeds (ver. 25) to deal very solemnly and faithfully with the 
bishops of Ephesus regarding the edification of themselves 
and their flock. Personal affections are freely employed 
whenever they can be of use. He would hardly be justified 
in wounding their loving hearts by express allusion to the 
fact that this was the last interview, if the grief could not be 
made conducive to his great aim. But he desires to print a 
great Tesolution deep on their hearts, and thinks it needful 
to get these hearts first of all melted. He softens the 
material by the flame of a great brotherly love, and then 
applies his prepared seal. Sometimes the departure of a 
faithful minister from an affectionate flock has produced a 
greater amount of good than his sojourn among them. Those 
who slumbered while the mill was going, may be awakened 
by the silence when the mill is stopped. 

He takes them to witness that, in his comparatively 
lengthened ministry at Ephesus, he had so fully declared 
the gospel, that he remained " pure from the blood of all 
men." The form of expression is striking and memorable. 
It is borrowed from the crime of murder, and the method 
by which guilt is ordinarily brought home to the criminal. 
In many cases conviction depends on blood being found on 
the clothes of the murderer. Hence in almost all cases of 
violence we hear of desperate efforts being made by the 
terrified evil- doer to efface the stain. These efforts, and the 
testimony connected with them, bulk largely in criminal 
trials. 



430 



The Church in the Hoitse. 



This is the conception that leaps into the apostle's mind. 
He cannot hope that all who have heard the gospel from his 
lips in the city are now in Christ. He fears that some of 
them may be still under condemnation. If they die in their 
sins, how unspeakable the loss — the loss of a soul ! He 
shudders at the thought : and in order to quicken their 
diligence when they should return to their labour, he endea- 
vours to impart some of his own anxiety to the elders. He 
in effect invites them to look to their hands and garments 
to make sure that there is no blood on them. 

The double application of his warning, " Take heed," pre- 
sents very vividly some great lessons. The logic and the 
theology of the sentence are equally good. The first care of 
the spiritual shepherd is for himself ; the next for the flock. 
In some parts they paint garden walls black, that they may 
absorb more of the sun's heat and so impart more warmth 
to the fruit- tiees that lean on them. Those who in any 
sphere care for souls, stand in the position of the garden 
wall. The more that the teacher absorbs for himself of 
Christ's love, the more benefit will others obtain from him. 
It is not the wall which glitters most in the sunshine that 
does most for the trees that are trained against it. It is the 
wall which is least seen that takes in most heat for itself; 
and the wall that has most heat in itself gives out most for 
the benefit of the trees. So it is not the preacher who 
flashes out into the greatest flame himself that imparts most 
benefit to inquirers who sit at his feet. Those who drink in 
most of the Master's spirit are most useful in the world. 
Those who first take heed to themselves will be most effec- 
tive in caring for the spiritual weal of those who look up to 
them. 

The Church of God, considered as a flock, has been pur- 
chased by his own blood. The term " purchased " points to a 



Paul's Address to the Elders of Ephesus. 43 i 

possession obtained by a price. Israel, in the typical dis- 
pensation, were acquired as the Lord's portion at the Exodus 
by the blood of a lamb ; but the true Israel of the New 
Testament by his own blood. The price paid for them 
enhances their value. The greater the sum that any pos- 
session costs, the greater care is bestowed upon it. How 
can the under shepherd lightly esteem the flock, which the 
Chief Shepherd bought with his blood ! This is the strongest 
motive which Paul could think of to draw forth the assi- 
duity and faithfulness of pastors. 

As an additional ground by which to enforce his injunc- 
tions to earnestness, he intimates that after his departure 
grievous wolves will enter the fold. The word " departure " is 
ambiguous. It may mean simply the speaker's departure 
from Asia on his voyage to Jerusalem, or it may mean his 
departure from this life. I think Paul employed the term 
precisely because it was ambiguous. He secretly thought of 
the ravages which would be committed among the Ephesian 
Christians after his own death ; but he expressed it softly, 
that they might in the first instance think of his leaving 
them for that time. But the word would return with new 
power to their memory, when the news reached Ephesus of 
the apostle's martyrdom. 

In such cases this great missionary always felt himself in 
a strait betwixt two. In prospect of heresies and immoralities 
rending and defiling the churches, he desired to abide in the 
flesh, that he might help the feeble ; but for himself the 
prospect of departure was sweet, for it would bring him 
straight to Christ. 

The " grievous wolves " here point not to persecution from 
without, but corruption within. The conception must be 
framed in consonance with the parallel, — wolves in sheep's 
clothing. They enter in ; and when they are in they destroy. 



432 



The Church in the House. 



They are admitted as friends ; and by being inside have more 
power to do mischief. 

These warnings are not of private interpretation. They 
are written for our admonition in this end of the world. 
The flock in our day is exposed to the same dangers. The 
presence of false teachers within the fold of a Protestant 
Church is the gravest fact of the day for all intelligent and 
true-hearted disciples of Christ. Prayers and pains must go 
together. We must cry mightily unto God, and strive 
mightily with men. " The Lamb shall overcome them ; for 
he is King of kings, and Lord of lords : and they that are 
with him are called, and chosen, and faithful " (Rev. xvii. 14). 



LXXXVIL 

THE LARGER BLESSING, AND THE LESS. 

* ' I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the 
weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more 
blessed to give than to receive." — Acts xx. 35. 

THIS " word of the Lord Jesus," like the great apostle who 
has reported it, is one " born out of due time." It 
found no place in the evangelic histories : it lay silent in 
loving hearts, or flowed in whispers from loving lips when 
the disciples met after their Master had departed, until, 
spoken by Paul on the sea-shore to the weeping elders of 
Ephesus, it was recorded by Luke, his companion, for the 
use of the Church in all coming time. In another aspect 
this word is like the man who quoted it at Miletus ; — if it, 
among the words of Christ, like Paul among his apostles, 
was late in coming, it is, like him, not a whit behind the 



The Larger Blessing, and the Less. 



433 



chief of them in preciousness and power, now that it has 
come. 

Luke reports the speech of Paul, and Paul's speech holds 
in its bosom a priceless fragment of the Eedeemer's word. 
It is as when a seaman in a shipwreck has seized in his 
strong arms a servant of the family as she was sinking ; and 
when she is raised, the spectators discover that she holds the 
infant son of the family living in her arms. 

Here then we have a word of Christ rescued from sinking 
into oblivion — a word of Christ with a word of Paul wrapped 
round it ; the jewel and its setting — the kernel and its shell 
are both here. 

" It is more blessed to give than to receive :" these words 
were indeed employed by Paul as a practical maxim to 
stimulate and direct the Christians at Ephesus in their chari- 
table contributions ; but if you limit your view to that 
specific application, you will miss the deepest of their mean- 
ing. An untaught barbarian, or an undeveloped child, sees 
in the stars some small twinkling lights set in the blue canopy 
higher than the clouds that flit across its face ; but you know 
more of their grandeur and of their Maker's might when you 
look upon them as central suns, with subject systems of their 
own, while they also acts as lights to the darkened hemisphere 
of our earth. As the difference between the intrinsic great- 
ness of the fixed stars, and their incidental usefulness to this 
world at night, is the difference between these words in their 
origin as the declared experience of God our Saviour, and 
these words in their application as a stimulant to liberality in 
Christian contributions. We must consider these words in the 
depth of their Divine fountain, and not confine our view to the 
particular stream that happens to flow from them here. Before 
we speak of the object to which the maxim is here applied, 
we must reverently look to the source whence it was taken. 

2 E 



434 The Church in the House, 

When our Redeemer said, " It is more blessed to give than 
to receive/' lie expressed his own experience. This word of 
Christ is beyond conception precious, especially to "the 
meek and poor afflicted ones " among his disciples. When, 
conscious of our own unworthiness, and especially of our 
backsliding, we tremble even before a throne of grace, it is 
sweet to learn that the Giver of pardon takes pleasure in 
giving. He who loves a cheerful giver, is a cheerful Giver. 
A penitent may encourage his soul to come near in confi- 
dence, not only with the argument which the spectators 
addressed to the blind man at Jericho, " Be of good comfort, 
rise ; he calleth thee," but with the much stronger reason, — 
the cure of the disease will impart greater joy to the Physi- 
cian than to the patient. This word of Christ, rightly 
accepted, is enough to drive away all the dread of fearful 
souls, as wind drives smoke away. 

Forms of amazing elegance and beauty may be thrown off 
in millions by the hands of common workmen ; but the one 
type whence all the specimens have derived their shape grew 
slowly, like the germs of life in the secret of a greater soul. 
So, off the experience of Immanuel in his work of Eedemption, 
from its beginning in the eternal purpose till its finishing in 
the fulness of time, was this maxim taken, which Paul found 
useful to stimulate the liberality of the Ephesians, — which 
we find useful to stimulate liberality amongst ourselves to-day. 
The love wherewith Christ loved us is the mould on which 
the practical rule was cast. Unless he had lived in the world, 
the world would never have possessed such a rule for the 
regulation of its course. This principle is not of the earth. 
It bears the mark of another origin. It at once reveals the 
character of its author, and gives shape to the aspirations of his 
followers. It is a print of his footsteps, marked by the Spirit 
in the word, to direct the way of his people through all time. | 



The Larger Blessing, and the Less. 435 

This feature belongs indeed to the lessons of every true 
teacher who undertakes to mould into better forms the spirit 
and conduct of his neighbours. All apostles who have left 
a beneficent mark on the world have first practised what 
they afterwards preached. In this respect the Apostle and 
High Priest of our profession was made like unto his 
brethren. He lived this lesson first, and taught it then. 
He tasted the blessedness of giving, and thereafter told his 
disciples how sweet it is. 

The redemption which Christ accomplished, and the 
gospel reveals, is a system of giving and receiving. It 
consists of these two, and of these two only. The whole 
transaction between the Saviour and the saved is compre- 
hended in giving and getting. He gives ; they get. This is 
the sum of the whole matter. Christ gives all, and gets 
nothing ; Christians get all, and give nothing. 

The Lord Jesus speaks from experience when he explains 
how pleasant it is to give. He is entitled to speak on that 
point with authority. On that subject he speaks what he 
knows. He has had much to do with giving, first and last. 
If there is sweetness in the act, he must have enjoyed that 
pleasure to the fulL 

He gave himself for us : this is a gift unspeakable. We 
have no line wherewith we may measure its greatness. It 
is as when a little child looks down into the blue heavens 
mirrored in a still lake ; the child exclaims, " These skies 
are deep, deep !" But how deep he cannot conceive, far 
less adequately express. Inconceivable to men and angels, 
— infinite is the gift which our Eedeemer bestowed 
when he offered himself to take sin away. The Giver 
of Himself knows what giving is, and is entitled to speak 
with authority on the amount of blessedness involved in 
the act. 



43 6 The Church in the House. 

Nor has the giving ceased, now that he is exalted. He 
continues to dispense his bounties. When he ascended after 
his ministry on earth was done, it was for the express 
purpose of giving. He gives the Spirit: he gives pardon 
and peace day by day to "him that coineth." He gives 
grace in this life, and glory in the next. On his part, it is 
all giving : his bounties are waters that fail not. And he is 
" not weary in well-doing." When he was hungry and faint 
at the well of Samaria, it was not the water from the 
woman's vessel or bread from the baskets carried by the 
twelve that refreshed him. " I have meat to eat," he said, 
" that ye know not of." And his meat was giving — giving 
to a needy sinner the gift of eternal life. 

This glimpse into the heart of our Eedeemer is a salve 
that reaches to the deepest of all sores. Brother, when you 
begin really to know yourself, it is not easy to hope that it 
will be well with you in the great day. When you 
measure the deceit and corruption of your own heart, you 
know that it will require a great deal of giving on the part 
of Christ to make you right. Perhaps you could hope more 
easily if your debt were smaller. You are afraid to 
expect that it will be all freely forgiven, because it is so 
great. When you have looked a while into your own heart 
to see its emptiness and measure how much you need to 
receive, turn round and look a while unto Jesus to learn 
how much he possesses, how much he bestows, and how 
much delight he takes in bestowing. There is joy in the 
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth ; 
and the joy is expressly said to be like the joy that filled 
the shepherd's heart when he got his wanderer home again. 
The joy therefore is the joy of the Lord, which surrounding 
angels see gleaming in his face, when he feels that virtue 
has gone out of him to save a sinner. Every time that 



The Larger Blessing, and the Less. 437 

from the depths of sin and misery on this world another 
draft is made upon his love, another throb of joy rebounds in 
the Eedeemer's breast. 

Humble and contrite hearts, that sigh and cry for the 
light of God's countenance, should drink in great consolation 
from these words of the Lord Jesus. If giving were a pain 
to him, he would have long ago ceased to give. If he gave 
grudgingly, he would not give at all ; for there is no 
constraint laid on him, except the compulsion of his own 
unmerited love. When our Lord with his disciples made 
the journey from Judaea to Galilee, it is written that " he 
must needs go through Samaria." There was indeed a 
geographical necessity on the surface, for Samaria lay right 
across their path; but there was a deeper necessity — a 
necessity compelling the Lord to make that journey at that 
time : it was his hunger for the meat that his fellow- 
travellers knew not of, which then consumed him — the 
appetite for giving mercy and newness of life to a chief 
sinner in Sychar. He must go that way, for there lay the 
savoury food that his soul desired. 

In his goings forth from eternity, he must go by this 
world. All these glorious worlds that are scattered over 
the infinite belong to him : but it is not necessary that he 
should dwell in any of them and take part of the nature 
of their inhabitants. These were not needing anything : 
these remained as God had made them — all very good. 
He would have enjoyed no giving there, and a sojourn there 
would not have been blessed to him. 

Tor this joy that was set before him — for this greater 
blessedness — the blessedness of giving, he came and com- 
panied with the empty and the lost. 

Let us bear these words of the Lord Jesus on our 
hearts when we pray. To be assured that he counts 



43 8 The Church in the House. 

it blessedness to give, should greatly encourage us in 
asking. 

The words do not say and do not mean that it is un- 
pleasant to receive. When the receiver is needy, and the 
gift good, and the giver generous, it is blessed to receive. 
Tell it, ye who have come to the Lord — wretched and 
miserable, and blind and naked, and have received from him 
pardon and peace and eternal life, — tell it to his glory. Is 
it not a blessed experience to receive ? Hark ! they tell it 
who already stand round the throne in white clothing, — 
Thou hast redeemed us and washed us from our sins in thy 
blood. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. 
These jubilant hosts who have passed in safety through the 
Eed Sea are not givers ; they are only receivers. They are 
rejoicing with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory ; 
but it is a joy of receiving that swells in their hearts and 
thrills through their frames. When the Lord intimated 
that the blessedness of giving is the greater, he did not 
intimate that the blessedness of receiving was small. He 
proclaims in one sentence the twofold truth, that the joy 
of his people in obtaining salvation is great, and his own 
in bestowing it is greater. 

There is an amazing affluence in the words of God, both 
in the covenant of his mercy and the creation of his hand. 
" And God made two great lights ; the greater light to rule 
the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars 
also" (Gen. i. 16). After the chief lights were provided, 
he needed some smaller sparks to supplement the moon's 
rays in the work of diminishing the darkness of night 
on this world. For this purpose, he employed a multitude 
of glorious orbs, many of them mightier far than the sun 
and all its system. 

It is thus in the covenant. God needs a motive to urge 



The Larger Blessing, and the Less. 439 

his people during their probation here to greater liberal- 
ity in their charity; and for that purpose reveals the 
experience of his Son in the work of redemption. He 
needed a lamp for our feet at a rough step on the journey ; 
and lo, in order to obtain it, he draws aside the veil, rends 
the heavens, and displays to view the love and joy that 
burn in the bosom of God our Saviour ! No wonder that 
the ravished pilgrim forgets for a time the step on earth 
thus illumined, and gazes on the glory that sheds down the 
needed light. 

In a subordinate sense, the Lord's people also give to him, 
and he receives from them. He loves this receiving. 
Evidence that he delighted in the self- consecration of his 
disciples crops out everywhere in the evangelic histories. 
In the case of the woman who poured out the precious 
contents of the alabaster box to anoint his body for the 
burial, he gives unmistakable indications that he was much 
pleased with the lavish offering. In the case of the ten 
lepers, too, he does not conceal that he rejoiced in the 
thanksgiving of the grateful one, and missed the acknow- 
ledgments of the selfish majority. 

It was kind in him to let us know that he values our 
gifts, although we render to him only what we have re- 
ceived. It would have thrown a discouraging damp over 
every grateful aspiration, if he had left us to suppose that, 
not needing our offerings to supply any lack, he was indif- 
ferent to all the loving gifts that loving hearts and hands 
might lay at his feet. Sometimes a little child is permitted 
to present a flower to the sovereign on occasion of a 
public procession. The sovereign takes real pleasure in 
the offering and the offerer : the sovereign's condescension 
is a mighty encouragement to the child. It is in some 
such way that disciples, who have attained to some measure 



440 



The Chitrch in the House. 



of the little child's spirit, are encouraged to present 
their thank-offerings, by knowing that he loves to receive 
them. 

And now that he has gone beyond our reach, it is his 
own express will that we should consider the poor as 
receivers for him. We have no Saviour present to the 
senses on whose head we might pour our precious ointment 
now ; but the poor we have always at hand ; and the 
Master's command is that we should turn the ointment 
into cash, and with the proceeds help our needy brother. 



lxxxviii. 

the high peiest insulting paul. 

"And Paxil, earnestly "beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have 
lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest 
Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth." 
—Acts xxhi. 1, 2. 

" A FTEK we were gotten from them " (ch. xxi. 1) means 
Xjl after we had torn ourselves away. It was a tender 
meeting, and a painful parting. They all wept sore. They 
sorrowed to see the missionary going away, and sorrowed 
most to hear him saying that they should see his face no 
more. 

Two thoughts, constituting a pair, suggest themselves here : 
(1.) Christians suffer as much as others from the necessary 
partings that occur in life, or rather they suffer more, for 
their faith increases their susceptibility. The affections run 
deeper and wax stronger in a nature that has been mellowed 
by faith. But (2.) Christians who live up to their privilege 



The High Priest insulting Paul. 44 1 



enjoy consolations correspondingly great. If their partings 
are painful, their hopes of meeting again are sure. The pain 
of temporary separation is overbalanced by the expectation 
of being soon and always together with the Lord. The 
loving hope absorbs the sadness as the fire licked up the 
water in the trench round Elijah's altar, and a balance of 
blessedness remains. 

The course of the voyage is noted briefly but clearly. First, 
the ship made a straight course to Coos, a small island, 
twenty-three miles long, divided from the mainland by a 
narrow channel. The ground is fertile and the traffic large. 
Next day they made the large island of Ehodes. Passing 
with a fair wind through the channel which divides it from 
the continent, they brought up in the harbour of Patara, the 
shipping port of the city Xanthus on the mainland. 

From Patara the ship's course no longer lay along the 
coast. She stands out to sea in a south-easterly direction, 
leaving Cyprus on the left, and steering for Tyre on the 
Syrian coast. At Tyre the ship discharges her cargo. As 
there must be a detention of several days here, the missionary 
will take advantage of it, and prosecute his own business. 
He goes ashore, and soon finds the Christians who reside in 
the port. Tyre is one of the most ancient and most celebrated 
of cities. It was a great seaport in Ezekiel's time ; and the 
course of events seems to point to it, or to some spot near 
it, as a great entrepot between Europe and India in the 
twentieth century. 

Paul found the disciples that were in Tyre. Some were 
found in every city throughout those regions ; and by the 
law that " like draws to like," they soon found themselves 
congregated in one company to hear the apostle of the 
Gentiles. Here accordingly the traveller remained a week, 
as in Troas, preaching, no doubt, to a great assembly on the 



44 2 The Church in the House. 

Lord's Day. That Sabbath would remain marked in the 
memory of Tyrian believers, even unto old age, as a well 
springing in the desert. 

Although the brethren warned Paul, through the spirit of 
prophecy, of the dangers that awaited him in Jerusalem, he 
would not desist from his purpose of visiting it. He had 
repeatedly consented to retire from danger when his life 
would have been exposed without adequate cause ; but he 
would not allow himself to be diverted from his course when 
he had a great object in view by any kind or degree of 
personal danger. Here accordingly occurs another tender 
separation. The whole assembly, including women and 
children, accompanied the missionary to the ship. They 
knelt together on the shore and prayed. There was a temple 
consecrated to the worship of God — its floor the sea-sand, 
its canopy the vault of heaven, its organ-peal the roaring of 
the waves as they broke upon the beach ! There, though 
marked by no material cross, and circumscribed by no man- 
marked line — there is a spot of holy ground. How dreadful 
is that spot on the sea-shore near Tyre — how dreadful and 
yet how gladsome ! It is the gate of heaven, through which 
the ardent spirits of those ancient Christians, led by the lips 
of Paul, went in to the throne of grace — by which the Lord 
who heard them came forth to be with them unseen, as ful- 
filment of his promise. Such holy places on the surface of 
this earth have all the disciples of the Lord, — the sacredness, 
however, adhering not to the ground, but to the memory of 
those who have met their Lord there. 

Claudius Lysias, the Eoman tribune commanding the 
garrison of Jerusalem, and in the absence of the governor 
responsible for the peace of the city, found it necessary to 
take Paul by force from the excited populace, and shut him 
up for safety in the Castle of Antonia. Uncertain still as to 



The High Priest insulting Paul. 



443 



the nature of the charges which were so violently preferred 
against the eminent missionary, he gave orders that he should 
be examined by scourging ; but as the men were binding his 
hands, Paul quietly asked the superintending centurion 
whether it were lawful to scourge a man that was a Eoman 
and uncondemned. Again he appeals with success to im- 
perial law for the preservation of his own life. 

Next day, in order to get the matter cleared, Lysias sum- 
moned a meeting of the Jewish great council, and requested 
them to examine the prisoner. When the Sanhedrim was 
duly constituted in a hall attached to the Temple, Lysias 
conducted Paul from the castle and placed him at their bar. 
The tribune, no doubt, after all that he had seen, took the 
precaution of stationing a military guard near enough to 
prevent any attempt against the prisoner's life. 

As we enter here the last section of the history, it may be 
useful to pause and observe the difference in character and 
design between it and all the preceding portions. At this 
point the scope of the history becomes narrower. It is now 
the track of Paul alone. All other actors disappear from the 
scene, except in as far as they were mixed up with his 
experience. Nor is it only that the history concerns itself 
henceforth with the course of this single missionary; for 
even with regard to him the character of the narrative under- 
goes a change. Although he maintains his character as a 
witness for Christ to the last, the history is no longer a 
record of missionary journeys to found churches, and to 
revisit them for comfort and consolidation. The main line 
now is a memorial of Divine Providence, preserving the 
missionary's life until he should be in a position to preach 
the gospel in Eome as he had already preached it in Jerusalem. 
Precious in God's sight is the death of his saints, and precious 
also in his sight is their life. He will lay all the powers of 



444 The Church in the House. 

nature and all the kingdoms of the earth under requisition 
to protect a life that he needs as an instrument in his work of 
righteousness until his work be done. Paul must witness 
for Christ at the centre of the world's power ; this is fixed 
as the end, and the means are all provided. The remaining 
portion of the book is the record of these provisions. 

Henceforth our theme therefore must be the arrangements 
of Providence for the spread and establishment of the king- 
dom of grace. Our business now is, to see God's hand 
working rather than to hear his word instructing ; but to the 
open and watchful ear, the still small voice of the gospel 
will ever and anon break forth in the intervals of the earth- 
quake and the thunder. He that hath an ear may still 
hear, in the concluding portion of Paul's history, " what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches." 

The history of apostolic missions is finished ; but before 
the parchment is rolled up, the line of one life is carried a 
few stages farther forward into the centuries, by way of 
specimen, that we may see how the Lord fulfilled his 
promise, " Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the 
world." We learn here how the Lord reigneth ; how he sits 
King upon the floods ; how he stills the waves and the 
tumults of the people; how he makes effectual his own 
command, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no 
harm. When we see the waves rising, we cry, like Peter, 
in despair, as if all were lost. In this portion of the history 
the Lord addresses us with mingled reproof and encourage- 
ment — " 0 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? " 

The Sanhedrim had assembled ; Paul was led in. As soon 
as he entered it is intimated that he eyed the assembly — 
" earnestly beholding the council." There is much power 
in a human eye. If there be courage in the heart, it finds 
expressive outlet by the eye. Cowards cannot stand erect 



The High Priest insulting Paul. 445 



under a brave man's look. Lions, it is said, wince under a 
man's steadfast gaze more than under the lash which he 
inflicts. The eye is both a channel of emotion and an 
instrument of power. In this case a good conscience and a 
strong faith added power to the look with which the solitary 
missionary met the gaze of the assembly, and made the 
priestly judges cower under the eye of the panel at their bar. 
Paul did not wait till a question should be put or a charge 
preferred. He is not, properly speaking, on his trial before 
the Sanhedrim. He is sent by the Eoman authorities to 
the native Jewish council in order to obtain a skilled and 
competent investigation of his case. The court are charged, 
not to try a criminal, but to investigate facts for the guidance 
of the governor. Such seems to have been Paul's own view 
of the situation, for he is himself the first to speak. With 
a salutation entirely friendly, but by no means cringing, he 
began to lay before the council a narrative of the steps that 
led to the present complications. 

I think Paul had an intelligent object in view when he 
addressed the members of the council respectfully but man- 
fully as " brother men." He is by this time such an one 
as Paul the aged. He saw on these benches many who had 
been his fellow- students, and some, no doubt, who had been 
both his juniors and his inferiors when they sat together at 
Gamaliel's feet. He had done nothing to forfeit his position 
as their colleague and equal. He had honoured the law in 
confessing Christ its fulfilment. He will not, by word or 
deed, relinquish his position. " My brothers," says the 
intrepid preacher, as he opens his address. In one aspect 
the salutation is kind ; in another, it carefully maintains 
his dignity and his rights. He humbles himself before God, 
but he will not humiliate himself before men. 

As soon as Paul had uttered the first sentence of his 



446 The Church in the House. 

speech, the high priest Ananias interrupted him by abruptly 
giving an order to the officers of the court to smite him on 
the mouth. This is a very remarkable statement. It reveals 
a condition of extreme corruption and degradation in Jewish 
society. Their chief magistrate, on his seat of authority, 
surrounded by his council, perpetrates an act of ruffian rude- 
ness fit only for the lowest haunts. In rejecting the Messiah 
the Jewish hierarchy have sunk into a low moral tone. They 
seem to have been given over to a reprobate mind. 

We obtain here a glimpse of a general law. When a chief 
sinner accepts Christ in simple faith, there is an immediate 
and great elevation of the moral sense in the converted man. 
In more than one aspect he becomes a new creature. But 
the converse also holds good. When Christ is brought near 
to any mind, and his claim touches the conscience, and the 
man, self-pleasing, ultimately rejects the offered Christ, the 
last state of such a rejecter is worse than the first. Those 
who waste privileges and quench convictions seem to sink 
lower than those who have never enjoyed them. Beware 
of stifling convictions — of crucifying Christ. 



LXXXIX. 

PAUL ANSWERING THE HIGH PRIEST. 

" Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall : for sittest 
thoii to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary 
to the law ? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest ? 
Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest : for it is 
written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people," etc. — Acts 
xxin. 3-11. 

GOD shall smite thee, thou whited wall/' This bold 
rejoinder of Paul presents an interesting study. In 
itself, and apart from circumstances, the pungency of the 



Paul answering the High Priest. 447 



apostle's reproof needs no other justification than that 
which he gave on the spot : " for sittest thou to judge me 
after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary 
to the law ? " Luther was wont to launch such thunderbolts 
against his princely and priestly oppressors. Great and 
earnest men in all ages have been wont to rise above their 
circumstances and bring unjust judges suddenly to the bar. 

Ananias seems to have been struck dumb. He loses his 
breath, and sits silent. They that stood by — some officials 
of his court or aspirants for his favour — took speech in 
hand to shield their astonished patron. These apologies 
were fain to fling his official dignity over the ermined cul- 
prit whom they could not in any other way defend. Not a 
word did they dare to utter in excuse or extenuation of his 
conduct. His act is tacitly abandoned, and they take 
refuge in the office which he holds. 

A high-minded and honourable government is a boon 
above all price to a nation. Judges that are impartial and 
just are a good gift of God in his providence. We in this 
country may well thank God for the Eeformation, for with 
it comes and with it goes the liberty of the people. 

It is with the apostle's reply to the defence offered by 
the high priest's satellites that the real difficulty for us 
begins. When they reproached him with reviling the 
high priest, he excused himself by saying, " I wist not that 
he was the high priest." If he had not excused himself, we 
should not have thought he needed an excuse ; but the 
excuse he gives suggests a real though not a very serious 
difficulty. It requires explanation, but it is clearly suscep- 
tible of explanation. 

It is not easy to determine conclusively which of many 
possible explanations is the best, but any one of several is 
sufficient. Tor example : L Ananias, in those violent 



448 The Church in the House. 

times, may have been an intruder and usurper. 2. Some 
other member may have presided at that diet, and Ananias 
may not have been distinguishable by position or dress from 
the rest. 3. It is conceivable that Paul meant to say that 
this brutal act could not have been perpetrated by " God's 
high priest," and to assume before the council that such a 
miscreant could not be the chief of the sacred college. Or, 
4. As has been lately suggested, Paul may have been short- 
sighted — not able, especially if the light was unfavourable, 
to distinguish faces across a spacious halL This is counte- 
nanced by the attitude which the apostle assumed when he 
first entered the court, " earnestly beholding the council " — 
fixing his gaze scrutinisingly and with straining upon the 
assembly. Thus he may positively not have known that 
the rude, illegal order proceeded from the president of the 
council. 

I mention these as possible solutions, and could mention 
others ; but these are enough to show that Paul's words can 
easily be accounted for, although we do not possess the 
means of certainly determining which of several explana- 
tions actually constituted at the time the ground of his 
remark. 

On the whole, I do not think that there is urgent need 
for apologies here. If Paul was angry, he had cause. He 
resented with spirit a brutal assault, and made the mitred 
miscreant feel that his robes and phylacteries could not 
protect him from the withering stroke of a just man's 
rebuke. On the whole, the missionary contrived, in this 
perplexing incident, to make clear for us a great and im- 
portant distinction between the office and the man who dis- 
graced it. He respects the priestly office, but the criminal 
priest he denounces sharply. 

By this time Paul had seen enough to convince him that 



Paul answering the High Priest. 



449 



no good could result from this inquiry, and his acute intel- 
lect readily perceived the means of cutting it short. He 
saw that the two parties of which the council was composed, 
although united against him, were, on vital matters, at 
daggers-drawn against each other as Pharisees and Sadducees. 
Accordingly he seized the opportunity of professing, in a 
loud voice, his adherence to the distinguishing doctrines of 
the Pharisees. This was really and notoriously true. In 
becoming a Christian he had not abandoned or even modi- 
fied those doctrines of the Pharisees which distinguished 
them from the Sadducees. The doctrine of the resurrection, 
dear to him before, had become tenfold dearer since he 
knew that the Lord had risen. This profession of his faith 
produced immediately the expected effect. It set the two 
parties together by the ears. Through the avenue made by 
the division Paul escaped from their hands. In the tumult 
the Eoman tribune, fearing mischief, came with a guard, 
and carried Paul into the castle. 

"The night following the Lord stood by him." The 
wearied missionary, saved from the rage of his countrymen 
only by the walls of a Eoman fortress and the swords of a 
Roman garrison, lies down to sleep. The Everlasting Arms 
are underneath him, and he has no fear. No plague can 
come nigh his dwelling. The shields of the earth belong 
unto God, and the strongest of them — the imperial Eoman 
power — is now interposed between him and those who 
sought his life. Think what must have been his prayer 
that night ! His heart longed after Israel, although they 
thirsted for his blood. 

I think the soldier on guard that night at the door of 
Paul's apartment must have reported in the morning that 
there were two persons in the room, as the listeners reported 
regarding John Welsh in the old church of Ayr. The sentry 

2 F 



45o 



The Church in the House. 



would probably hear through the key-hole an earnest reason- 
ing and entreaty going on — " I will not let thee go except 
thou bless me " — as when two are engaged in close debate. 
Paul cried to God that night certainly ; for God came at his 
servant's call. The answer comes as an echo of the prayer. 
The Lord stood by him and said, " Be of good cheer." The 
answer given reveals the request that had been secretly 
made. Be of good cheer, Paul : the answer proves that 
Paul's cheer had been poor when he lay down. What may 
have been the weight that lay so heavy on his heart ? His 
life was not in immediate danger. He was under the pro- 
tection of Eoman law, in this case administered by a fair 
and thoughtful man. It was not fear for his own life that 
marred his cheerfulness. Still following our rule of dis- 
covering the ailment from the cure applied, we find the con- 
solation offered was a specific promise that he should be 
permitted to bear witness for Christ at Eome. Here then 
we discover the cause of the apostle's sadness : he had be- 
gun to fear that he would yet be disappointed in the great 
aim of his life — to preach the gospel in Eome. His desire 
in that direction had now grown into a passion. Jerusalem, 
to which he hastened through all obstacles in his last 
journey, has now finally rejected him and his message. The 
Jews in persecuting the missionary rejected Christ. Paul 
was led to accept this decision, and henceforth he bends all 
his energy towards Eome. He is the apostle of the Gentiles, 
and the chief desire of his heart now is to make known 
Christ in the metropolis of the world. 



Compassed with his Favour as with a Shield. 451 



XC. 

COMPASSED WITH HIS FAVOUK AS WITH A 
SHIELD. 

" And -when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound them- 
selves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they 
had killed Paul," etc. — Acts xxttt. 12-35. 

THE conspiracy formed to assassinate Paul and the means 
by which it was defeated are narrated with consider- 
able minuteness. The history is perhaps given the more 
fully that it contains and exhibits a decisive example of the 
actual union and harmony between the prescient purpose of 
God and the responsibility of men for duty on their own 
sphere. It was determined that Paul's life should be saved 
from these dangers, and that determination was made known 
to him. He knew for certain that these schemers could not 
take his life ; he knew for certain that the power of God 
was pledged effectually to frustrate their designs ; yet with 
this knowledge Paul laid his plans anxiously and skilfully, 
and executed them with secrecy and energy, for the preser- 
vation of his own life, precisely as if he had thought that all 
depended on his own skill and promptitude. This shows 
conclusively that in Paul's mind a belief in the decrees of 
God did not conflict with the obligation to diligent duty on 
the part of men. He framed and conducted a counterplot 
to defeat the conspiracy of the Jewish priesthood with as 
much zeal and care as if he had not obtained previous assur- 
ance of his safety. This simple history is most precious as 
an inspired commentary on some difficult doctrines. It 
does not indeed make the doctrines easy of comprehension ; 
it does not relieve them of mystery to our minds ; but it is 



452 



The Church in the House. 



fitted to accomplish very great practical good in two distinct 
yet related aspects. It is fitted first of all to show us that 
no view of the Divine purposes can be right that in any 
measure tends to slacken human zeal and energy ; and, in 
the second place, it ought to make men very guarded, who, 
either from the Christian or non-Christian view-point, are 
disposed to attribute to the adherents of so-called Calvinis- 
tic doctrines consequences which Paul and Calvin would 
have repudiated. Scriptural views of the Divine prescience 
and sovereignty, by whatever name they may be called, 
stimulate and do not sopite the watchfulness and energy of 
disciples. To be assured that it is God that worketh 
in them, is the best of all motives to induce intelligent 
Christians to work out their own salvation with fear and 
trembling (Phil. ii. 12, 13). 

The Jewish leaders easily found a band of desperadoes, 
who for fitting consideration should act the part of assassins. 
The rule of a superstitious and corrupt priesthood will pro- 
duce an abundant crop of such instruments in any age and 
in any land. In connection with this plot an incidental 
glimpse is afforded of the apostle's family circle. A married 
sister, probably a Christian, and having her residence in 
Asia Minor, or in some region remote from Jerusalem, de- 
putes her adult son to perform a service which she could 
not personally render to her brother — to wait upon him, and 
render him assistance in his struggle with the priest party 
in Judaea. This young man discovers the plot and reveals 
it to his uncle. Paul, enjoining secrecy on the informer, 
loses no time in getting him introduced to the Roman com- 
mander. The result is that the prisoner is sent under a 
strong guard to Caesarea, on the coast, and the conspiracy 
is completely frustrated. 

The letter addressed by the tribune commanding in 



Compassed with his Favour as with a Shield, 453 



J emsalem to his superior, Felix the governor, is preserved 
entire. It is a most interesting ancient document. It is in 
complete accord with the forms and the spirit of the time. 
Lysias simply and briefly recites the facts of the case, and 
leaves it in the hands of his chief. 

Paul is now in the hands of a thoroughly bad man ; but 
the Eoman laws are around him, and these suffice to protect 
him, in the meantime, alike from the foul treachery of the 
Jews, and the mean avarice of Felix. The law will not 
permit him to be tried, far less to be condemned, until he and 
his accusers are brought face to face before a regular 
tribunal. Paul is placed under arrest indeed ; but it is for 
the protection of his life, rather than for the restraint of his 
liberty. Herod's judgment-hall, the place of his confine- 
ment, is not precisely the cell in which they would immure 
a criminal. In that hall, with a Eoman sentinel pacing up 
and down its corridors night and day, the missionary will 
be in safe keeping, until the preliminaries for his trial can 
be arranged. Signal, meantime, unseen by human eye, is 
displayed to ministering angels, that this man must be 
preserved unharmed, for the word of the Lord is pledged 
that he shall preach yet in Eome. Lie down, Paul, and 
rest a while : give some repose to thy weary limbs and 
anxious heart. Thy course is almost run : but a little while, 
and thou shalt enter into rest. A few more tossings on the 
sea of time, and thou shalt be sentinelled, not by Eoman 
legionaries, but by ministering spirits who attend upon the 
heirs of salvation. One city more to be visited, one ruler 
of this world more to be confronted, one trial more to be 
endured before a human judgment-seat, and then thou 
shalt be permitted to depart and to be with Christ, which 
is far better. 

But such faith and such hope belong not exclusively to a 



454 



The Church in the House. 



great apostle, or to the supreme crisis of an eventful life. 
These may become the every- day attainments of common- 
place people. A disciple who has never stood before kings, 
who has never been a bone of contention between rival 
factions, whose life has been spent in a private sphere, and 
whose name has never been heard of half-a-mile from home, 
may participate in the grand inheritance which Paul enjoyed. 
" My peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give 
I unto you." The simplest and the humblest who is found 
in Christ may lie down and awake with God, day by day 
through life, until, after falling asleep for the last time here, 
he awake in the presence of his Lord. 

The air — the atmosphere which surrounds this globe — is 
a limited quantity. Its measurements are known. It can 
be weighed even in our balances, and fathomed by our laws; 
yet that body touches at the same moment all living. It 
enfolds all vegetable and animal life in one comprehensive 
embrace, and touches, presses gently on every flower of the 
field and every face of man. It supplies the breath of life 
to all, not only those who stand on a mountain-top and con- 
sciously inhale the blessing, but also, and equally, those who 
sleep in the gallery of a mine, and know not the value of 
the omnipresent boon. We can understand this fact of 
nature : we can realise and appreciate its truth and value. 
Might we not by faith as clearly realise that the love of 
God, unlike the atmosphere, his creature, infinite, compasses 
about always all his children, great and small, of every 
language, in every clime, clasping them round continuously, 
and supplying them with life ! 

The same atmosphere, God's creature, that was suffused 
round the head of Paul, when he slept in Herod's judgment- 
hall at Csesarea, surrounds our heads to-day, supplying us 
with the breath of life : the same Divine love, Christians, 



The Parties at the Bar. 



455 



that sustained Paul's faith and refreshed his spirit, when he 
was afflicted, persecuted, and forsaken, compasses us about 
to-day, for life in the Lord, a life eternal. Eejoice in the 
Lord always. 0 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt ? 



"And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and 
with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against 
Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, 
Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are 
done unto this nation by thy providence," etc.— Acts xxrv. 1-23. 



I HE comfort given to the missionary in his extremity 



I consists in an assurance, not that his troubles should 
cease, but that his witness-bearing should continue. The 
Lord knew what grieved his servant's heart ; and in order 
to gladden it, announced, Thou shalt bear witness of me 
at Eome. This was the promise, and it must be fulfilled. 
Many and various agents will be pressed into the service in 
order to accomplish it. The bloodthirsty enmity of the 
Jewish priesthood, and the impartial dignity of Eoman law ; 
the plot of assassins, and the sharp-sighted love of kindred ; 
the avarice of a profligate governor, and the discipline of the 
imperial legions, — all conspired, like the several parts of a 
machine in motion, to preserve the missionary's life and 
transplant him to the metropolis of the world. 

At Csesarea the distinguished prisoner was kept, for pro- 
tection as much as for restraint, until his accusers should 
arrive. In five days the prosecutors were on the spot, and 
the case was called. The high priest in person, with several 
of his confederates, represented the Sanhedrim. The priests 



XCI. 



THE PARTIES AT THE BAR, 




456 



The Church in the House. 



did not venture to conduct their own case. Already they 
had found Paul too much for them in debate. They knew 
by experience that he quickly detected the weak point in an 
adversary's argument, and had no mercy on sacerdotal 
impertinence. Wise in their generation, the Jewish con- 
clave hired a Eoman advocate to conduct the prosecution. 
These men, after studying law in the capital, were wont to 
practise in the provinces. They were acquainted with legal 
forms, and with the judicial precedents : provincial litigants 
found it their interest to employ them. It is by no means 
certain that the advocate used the Latin tongue ; for 
examples occur in which the Greek was employed even in 
Kome. 

It was a rule with rhetoricians to compliment the pre- 
siding judge at the outset; and this part of his function 
Tertullus greatly overdid. He was able to point with truth 
to the suppression of certain bands of robbers as a boon con- 
ferred on the country ; but history proves that the governor's 
own cruel and lawless acts oppressed the people more than 
all the robbers he had rooted out. The glimpse which this 
book gives of Felix perfectly accords with the character he 
bears in contemporary history. He was a licentious, rapa- 
cious, cruel, and unjust man 

After the advocate's exordium comes the indictment 
against the prisoner. Its terms are suspiciously general. 
No specific act is libelled, but a vague scolding accusation 
preferred against Paul as a pest and a disturber. Nothing 
strange has happened to this servant of Christ. The 
Master had warned his disciples that they should be 
accounted and called "offscourings;" but, at the same time, 
he pronounced them to be "the salt of the earth." The 
high priest and his colleagues appeared personally and 
assented to the statements of their advocate. "When the 



The Parties at the Bar. 



457 



case of the prosecutors was closed, the governor beckoned to 
Paul that he was at liberty to reply. The gravity and order 
of a Eoman tribunal contrast strongly with the lawless 
insolence of the high priest in his court at Jerusalem. 

Paul, too, like his adversary Tertullus, begins with a 
word of compliment to the presiding magistrate; but he 
utters no falsehood and no exaggeration. He only mentions 
an obvious fact, that the governor had long experience of 
the country. As to the substance of his address it consists 
of two parts : those things in the accusation that were 
criminal were not true ; and those that were true were not 
criminal. The crimes falsely charged he denied, and 
challenged his accusers to the proof: the portions of the 
indictment that were true he confessed, and contended that 
they violated no law. 

Even in an oration whose direct object was the demon- 
stration of his own innocence and the preservation of his 
own life, Paul contrives incidentally to indulge his ruling 
passion — that is, to commend the gospel of Christ. He 
carefully points out that the belief of the gospel is not the 
rejection of the Mosaic system, but its natural result. He 
testifies to thoughtful Jews that the right understanding of 
Moses leads to the reception of Jesus as the Christ. In the 
matter of the resurrection, too, which was the immediate occa- 
sion of the tumult in the council at Jerusalem, his faith coin- 
cided with that of the Pharisees who were prosecuting him. 

Besides allusions to controverted doctrines, he introduces 
a most interesting and instructive reference to personal, 
practical holiness of life : " Herein do I exercise myself, to 
have always a conscience void of offence toward God and 
toward men." This is a precious morsel ; especially when 
we consider the position in which it stands, and the circum- 
stances in which it was given. In great ecclesiastical and 



45 8 The Church in the House. 

doctrinal contentions, such as those in which Paul was then 
engaged, or those which agitate the Church in our own day, 
zeal in public debate too often overrides and crushes private, 
personal godliness and purity of conscience. It is reproving 
and instructive to observe that the Apostle of the Gentiles, 
at the very moment when he was compelled to contend 
alone against a nation leagued to destroy him, devoted him- 
self habitually and with all his might to the growth of grace 
in his own soul, and the practice of righteousness in all his 
conduct. Clear in his logic as well as ardent in his affec- 
tions, he rightly divides the word of truth on this subject 
for our instruction in the end of the world. Morality with 
Paul, as with Moses, diverges into two main channels, — the 
first containing our duty to God, and the second our duty to 
man. He strove to have these two commandments written, 
not with ink, but on the fleshy tables of his heart. Let the 
conscience be clean, whether it point upward to God, or 
outward to men. The two great commandments in this 
preacher's life were, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
and thy neighbour as thyself." 

Nor did this great saint find compliance easy. Obedience 
to that law " exceeding broad " did not come to him by chance, 
without plan and effort. He speaks of it in the terms which 
belong to the drill of a soldier. It is a commonplace in 
military economy that a soldier cannot be made in a day. 
Eaw recruits, however perfect may be their arms and their 
uniform, are useless when they meet an enemy. Wherein 
really consists the strength of an army in the day of battle % 
In the previous exercise of the individual combatants. This 
conception Paul adopts and applies to his own life as a wit- 
ness for Christ and a warfare against sin. For the motive to 
fight, and the will to make sacrifice on the side of holiness, 
he depends altogether on the redemption of Christ. He is 



Paul and Felix. 



459 



bought with a price, and is therefore not his own ; his life 
and all his faculties are at the disposal of the Lord that 
bought him ; but for the skill and power to fight successfully 
on the side he has chosen he depends on a careful and con- 
stant exercise. The success of the Christian army in their 
holy war depends on the drill, day by day, of individual 
warriors. 

And if the Apostle of the Gentiles, a man great in the 
faith, found it necessary to maintain constantly a military 
watchfulness and practice, how presumptuous in any of us to 
count on keeping the course, and acquiring the crown, by an 
indolent wish to be safe, without a constant watchfulness, an 
energetic effort, and a more than military sternness in laying 
aside every weight, and the sin that doth most easily beset 
us ! Soldiers are never done with exercise : although they 
have served honourably for a quarter of a century, they must 
still submit to drill. If the soldiers of Jesus Christ were as 
wise in their generation and as painstaking, more victories 
would be won, and more captives made. The kingdom of 
Christ would " come " in greater power, both in the hearts of 
individual disciples and over the nations of the earth. 



XCIL 

PAUL AND FELIX. 

" And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a 
Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And 
as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix 
trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time ; when I have a con- 
venient season, I will call for thee." — Acts xxrv. 24, 25. 

THEEE are in the Scriptures certain grand outstanding 
portions, which seem to bulk more largely and shine 
more brightly than the rest. In the Old Testament the 



460 . T '" chu " h i """ Hm "- 

twenty-third Psalm and the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah : in 
the Gospels the interviews with Nieodemus and the Samaritan 
woman, the parables of the sower, the shepherd, and the pro- 
digal : in the Acts, the gospel preached to the Ethiopian by 
Philip, and to the jailer by Paul ; the gospel preached to 
Felix here and rejected ; — these are specimens of words that 
grave themselves more deeply on the memory of Bible 
students, and come up more frequently for use. "Not is it 
either unlike the ways of God or incongruous with the nature 
of the case that some points should excel in beauty and power 
where all is Divine. On the earth's surface, some mountains 
rear their heads into the sky far above the valleys and the 
" little hills " that bound them, and some stars are superior 
to others in breadth and brightness. To recognise practically 
such pre-eminence does not disparage the body of revelation 
any more than the earth that bears the mountains, or the 
skies that hold forth the stars. 

To a thirsting soul these notable portions are like wells by 
the wayside. The traveller drank from them in succession 
the first time he trod the path, perhaps fifty years ago ; but 
if he is living still, and still on pilgrimage, with the same 
hot sand beneath his feet, and the same hot sun above his 
head, he will drink from each well-remembered spring as he 
passes it, with as much delight as on the first day he dis- 
covered its refreshing water. He will not turn away his 
head with the complaint, I have known these wells so long 
and tasted of them so often that I am wearied of them now. 
Therefore, spring, 0 wells, as long as there is a desert, and 
drink, 0 pilgrims, as long as you are thirsty ; for the princes 
of the people digged them, — David and Isaiah, and Peter and 
John, and Matthew and Luke : and drink, reader, if thou art 
a wayfarer on the same path — drink at this spring in the 
desert yet once more as you pass. 



Paid and Felix. 



461 



The governor, indolent, vicious, self-pleasing, postponed 
decision in Paul's case, and after the trial relapsed into his 
pleasures. But the pleasures, long continued and not much 
varied, palled on the taste of the voluptuary. To relieve 
their languor, he and his wife Drusilla determined one day 
to hear a sermon from the distinguished preacher who hap- 
pened to be their prisoner. Accordingly, a message is con- 
veyed to Paul that the governor and his party desired to hear 
him concerning the faith in Jesus. This message sent to the 
prison is all the heavens different from the cry formerly 
raised in the prison, " What must I do to be saved V But 
Paul counts the occasion good, and determines to occupy his 
opportunity. Man proposes, but God disposes. What Felix 
begins in sport may end in earnest. The imprisoned apostle 
will endeavour to strike a blow for the kingdom of Christ in 
the high places of the earth. 

The auditors on this occasion, although they occupied a 
high place in society, were both " of the baser sort." They 
were stained especially with cruel injustice towards others 
and gross impurity in their own persons. These specific 
vices, well known to the preacher, determined no doubt the 
form of his discourse. When he speaks to a large miscel- 
laneous audience whose characters he does not know, he 
must draw his bow at a venture, and hope it will hit some 
enemy of the King ; but when, as in this case, he sees clearly 
his object, he will take deliberate aim. Accordingly, in 
making justice and personal purity the chief themes of his 
address, Paul was coolly covering his man. He preached to 
the times, and the place, and the people. Taking his stand 
generally on the eternal law of God, he selected the two 
specific aspects of it that cut directly into the consciences of 
his auditors. He will employ the law as a fire of coals piled 
on the hard ore of the governor's heart, if so be he may make 



462 



The Church in the House. 



it flow down : if lie sees it melting, lie will quickly receive 
it into the mould of the gospel for pardon and newness of life. 

It is a mistake to suppose that the discourse, so briefly- 
reported here, consists of three consecutive heads. Its logic 
is better than such an arrangement supposes. The sermon 
consisted of two heads and an application. The two heads, 
Righteousness and Temperance, are meant to hedge in the 
governor, so that his conscience cannot escape either on the 
right hand or on the left ; and the application — the judgment 
to come — is sent forward like a flood of fire between these 
two walls to secure conviction, and utterly to slay the old 
man in the heart of that chief sinner. The division by the 
same apostle, in Tit. ii. 1 2, " Soberly, righteously, and godly," 
is in substance the same, although the two main branches 
are given in the reverse order. With perfect clearness and 
precision Paul divides the law into two parts ; first, its aspect 
outwards as bearing on other people ; and second, its aspect 
inwards, as bearing on ourselves. Towards other men, it 
demands justness; within ourselves, it demands purity. 
These are indicated by the terms " righteousness " and " tem- 
perance " in the reported discourse. 

Eighteousness needs no explanation. It means what it 
says — rightness, justness, in thought, word, and deed towards 
all— towards God and towards man. Temperance, the other 
English word, needs to be defined. It is not employed here 
in the modern and narrow sense of mere freedom from all 
excess in the use of intoxicants. It means that, and more. 
Its classical and New Testament signification is much wider 
than that which it ordinarily bears now in our own language. 
It means freedom from all that defiles ; it demands personal 
purity on all sides. In this case, although it did not exclude 
what we ordinarily mean by intemperance, most certainly 
the licentiousness of the hearers was much more prominently 



Paul and Felix. 



463 



before the preacher's mind, and much more specifically de- 
signated by his word. 

We know how Paul would bring home the word on both 
sides. He would keep nothing back. He strikes with a 
will. He thrusts the sword up to the hilt. He has no 
compassion ; for he knows that compassion in this place is 
unfaithfulness to a fellow-sinner's soul. Felix is compelled 
to listen ; and, what is much more, Felix is compelled to 
listen with secret application of the dreadful word to himself. 
As the preacher advanced from point to point, the conscience 
of the governor, as the voice of God in his breast, murmured, 
Thou art the man. On the one side he is unrighteous ; on 
the other he is impure ; and when the judgment to come was 
pressed forward, he felt as if an angel with a flaming sword 
were approaching to destroy him, while he had no power to 
escape. 

Felix is like a man chained to the ground in the middle 
of the Mount Cenis tunnel. Above, below, and on either 
side he is shut in. Without a figure, the barriers on all sides 
are nothing else and nothing less than the everlasting hills. 
While he is chained to the spot in that dark avenue, he looks 
along the gloomy telescope tube ; and lo, in the distance, a 
red fiery spark, like a fixed star ! It is like an eye, all-seeing 
and angry, glaring on him from afar. But as he gazes on it, 
he perceives that it is growing larger ; and oh, horror ! it is 
advancing. It is coming with express speed. It is the 
fiery engine rushing on — rushing over him ! 

Felix trembled ; and well he might. He has reached that 
point in spiritual experience on which the Philippian jailer 
stood, when " he called for a light and sprang in trembling." 
But, alas ! he does not seek relief from the terror of convic- 
tion where the official in Philippi sought and found it. 
Instead of "What must I do to be saved?" it is, " Go thy 



464 The Church in the House. 

way for this time." Two men may be led by nearly tlie 
same path into those soul-pangs which accompany conviction 
of sin ; and yet the two men may follow opposite courses in 
life, and meet opposite rewards in eternity. It is not how 
you fall into the pains of conviction that fixes your state, but 
how you get out of them. Not how you were wounded, but 
how you are healed, is the turning-point of the loss or saving 
of the soul. Instead of seeking healing in accepting Christ 
his Saviour, Felix sought ease by stifling the preacher's voice 
— quenching the Spirit who spoke in the preacher. 

But here a question occurs. As far as the report of the 
sermon goes, there is no mention of Christ, and no offer of 
pardon through his blood. Felix received on this occasion 
no such blessed word as that which was addressed to the 
jailer, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved." This difference is real, and it is remarkable. The 
reason of it when discovered throws a flood of light on Paul's 
method as a preacher of Christ. He seems to have preached 
the law, and nothing more, to Felix and Drusilla ; but he 
would have preached the gospel too, if they had permitted 
him. He began with the law in order to work conviction of 
sin, ready to apply the healing balm the moment that the 
conscience was touched. The sermon as far as it went was 
intended to inflict a wound; and the foolish hearer, when he 
felt the pain, interrupted the speaker, and lost his oppor- 
tunity. Felix wanted to play at preaching ; but Paul meant 
earnest work. Felix intended to amuse himself during a 
leisure hour ; Paul tried to save a soul from death. Thus 
these two were at cross purposes. But we are sure from the 
whole character and life of the apostle that he would have 
offered free pardon in Christ to the chief sinner who sat 
before him, if he had not been abruptly silenced ere his work 
was done. 



Convictions Resisted bear no good Fruit. 465 



XCIII. 

CONVICTIONS EESISTED BEAE NO GOOD FRUIT. 

" He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might 
loose him : wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. 
But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room : and Felix, willing 
to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound."— Acts xxrv. 26, 27. 

seed was good and the sower skilful, yet no fruit 
followed. 

Eor one thing, the hearer of the Word on that occasion 
did not seek spiritual benefit, and that is at least in part the 
reason why he did not obtain it. A plan and a purpose are 
necessary on the part of the hearer, as well as on that of the 
preacher. The promise is, " Seek, and ye shall find." Those 
who omit the condition, have no right to expect the result. 

Further, bad company in this case contributed to the 
failure. Eelix and Drusilla were both steeped in wickedness. 
It is more difficult for Eelix to yield and admit conviction 
in presence of his profligate companion. If he had shown 
symptoms of repenting, this bold bad woman was ready with 
! her fiercest look and her most contemptuous sneer. Oh 
that the poor man had been alone, or had been surrounded 
by companions who would have encouraged him to turn and 
live ! Many promising impressions have been nipped in the 
; bud by the scoff of worldly companions. 

When convictions spring up as in this case, taking the 
; shape of terror in prospect of the judgment-seat, there must 
e ' and will be a rapid movement, either backward or forward. 
fe ' It' is as if fire were falling on the spot where you stand, and 
i you must instantly escape from it. You will go either 
J nearer to the God whom you fear, or further away from him. 
I If you get a glimpse of his love in Christ, you will bound 

2 G 



466 



The Church in the House. 



forward in order to hide from all fears in his Divine compas- 
sion ; but if you get no such view of his mercy, the terror 
of the Lord will drive you into vanities or vice, as a cover 
from the light of his countenance. For such a case the 
"Word of Christ was spoken and written — " Come unto me, 
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." 

The subterfuge of Felix — " When I have a convenient 
season, I will call for thee " — was natural in the circum- 
stances, but false and shallow. He made a promise which 
he did not mean to fulfil. If Paul has rightly presented 
the reckoning, now is the most, the only convenient time for 
getting it settled. Now is the day of salvation ; the gospel 
does not know to-morrow. Let any one who in modern times 
is inclined to follow this ancient example of procrastination, 
think for a moment why he desires delay. Is it that you 
may enjoy the pleasures of sin a little longer? But the case 
will not bear reasoning. It is false from the foundation. 
You, the guilty and condemned, are invited, besought, to 
accept instant and full pardon and peace with God free 
through the Eedeemer; and you beg to be excused — you 
plead for a little delay, as if you had been summoned to the 
scaffold. The pleading for delay is as much as to tell God 
to his face that the pardon and peace which he offers you 
count a calamity, and if you must endure them sometime, 
you would fain put the evil day afar off. True repentance 
does not covet — it dreads delay. 

It is dangerous to stifle convictions thus. The conscience 
cannot be so treated with impunity. When it is not 
listened to, it loses its sensitiveness and vitality. It will 
not give its testimony so clearly the next time. When a 
bar of iron is made red-hot and plunged into water, and 
that process is several times repeated, it becomes hard and 



Convictions Resisted bear no good Fruit. 467 

brittle ; it may be easily broken now, but cannot be bent. 
In some such way the conscience is seared by stifling con- 
victions of sin. 

The facts that immediately follow the dismissal of the 
preacher bear directly and decisively on a question of uni- 
versal and cardinal interest in religious affairs, — the question 
whether a religion of terror produces any permanent good 
moral effect. Superficial inquirers, who examine the gospel 
from a point of view outside of its boundaries, cling to the 
conviction that it is dangerous to withdraw the fear of 
punishment. They think this fear is necessary to keep men 
from transgression. This is a mistake ; but neither human 
instinct nor human philosophy possesses the means of correct- 
ing it. It cannot be corrected except by the experience of 
a more excellent way. The old question, " Do we make 
void the law through faith ? " cannot be answered except 
from the Christian view-point — " God forbid : yea, we 
establish the law." 

The popery of the Middle Ages maintained a religion of 
1 terror. The priests kept the line in their own hands, and 
by means of confession and purgatory imagined they had 
the hook in Leviathan's jaws. But Leviathan could not 
be bridled in by such childish machinery. Sin in humanity, 
like a sea-monster in its element, was too strong for these 
green withes. The evil spirit in man said, " J esus I know, 
and Paul I know, but who are you ? " 

God's method of binding souls to obedience is similar to 
his method of keeping the planets in their orbits — that is, 
by flinging them out free. You see no chain keeping back 
[ these shining worlds to prevent them from bursting away 
l from their centre. They are held in the grasp of an invisible 
[ principle, which we call the law of gravitation ; and it is by 
j the invisible bond of love — love to the Lord who bought 

• 



468 



The Church in the House. 



them — that ransomed men are constrained to live soberly 
and righteously and godly. " Neither do I condemn you : 
go and sin no more ;" such is the method by which Jesus 
bound a chief sinner to obedience. He trusts that his free 
gift of pardon will generate a love in the sinner's breast, 
which will constrain him, like gravitation, to keep the law. 

Let us see whether the terror of Felix in the prospect of 
judgment produced any good effect on his morals. Two 
specimens of the man's life are with great simplicity subjoined, 
and from these we learn that his fright had not made him a 
better man. In ver. 26 we learn that the governor, who 
never found a more convenient season for hearing the Word, 
summoned Paul the prisoner often into his presence for 
another purpose. He expected a bribe, and meanly con- 
descended to give the innocent prisoner many a hint that a 
man like him need not languish in confinement, while his 
numerous and ardent admirers had plenty of money in their 
hands. Next, in ver. 27, we learn that at the end of two 
years, when Felix was recalled from the province, instead of 
setting Paul at liberty as a man against whom no crime had 
been proved, he handed him over to his successor, still a 
prisoner, because he saw that the act would be popular with 
the fanatic Jewish mob. Considering the position of Felix 
as governor and judge, no fouler deed could possibly be re- 
corded against him. Such is the fruit borne by an evil tree 
after it has been deeply cut by the axe, but not cut through 
and made good by the engrafting of another. Such is the 
fruit that the convictions of a wicked man bear when they 
have been arrested and not permitted to grow into conver- 
sion. Such is the result of terror where there is not faith. 

One would like to know the history of that centurion who 
had charge of the missionary during those two years at 
Csesarea, and also of the soldiers of his company who acted 



The New Governor. 



469 



by turns as the apostle's sentinel. The veil has not been 
lifted up. The result of intercourse with Paul day by day 
for so long a period will not be known till the day declare it ; 
but I think when it is declared, it will be a glory to the 
Lord and a crown of joy to his servant. Not a few in the 
ranks of the Eoman army were converted during the lifetime 
of the apostle. Even in Caesar's household at Eome there 
were disciples of Jesus, sending their greetings to fellow- 
disciples in other lands. There is much probability that the 
Word of life would win the officer who had charge of Paul 
at Ceesarea. Ward and warder have both gone long ago to 
their account ; and from the analogy of other cases, it is law- 
ful to indulge the fond hope that these two men, who often 
promenaded together the coast of the Mediterranean, or 
gazed from the battlements of Herod's judgment-hall on the 
sun setting in the western sea, gaze together now with clearer 
eyesight on greater wonders, before the great white throne. 



XCIV. 

THE NEW GOVEENOE. 

" Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended 
from Csesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews 
informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against 
him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill 
him, etc."— Acts xxv. 

THEEE was a change of government. Eelix was recalled, 
and Eestus succeeded him as procurator of Judea. 
The new governor coming from Italy by sea, landed at 
Csesarea, remained at that port three days, and then went up 
to Jerusalem. Doubtless he desired to inform himself re- 



470 



The Church in the House. 



garding the state of parties among the Jews in the interior, 
that he might be able more intelligently to administer the 
government at Caesarea. 

We may find an analogous case on a much larger scale 
in our own administration of India. The new governor 
arrives at Calcutta, a city of recent origin, built by the 
dominating power on navigable waters, as the seat of autho- 
rity. But he will do well, soon after his arrival, to make 
a progress into the interior — to visit Benares, Delhi, 
Lahore — the great capitals of the native races, or the seats 
of their religious worship. It is there that he may best 
learn the disposition of the natives, and the condition of 
the country, thus qualifying himself to conduct the 
machinery of government. A very necessary precaution, 
as we know to our cost : greased cartridges may kindle a 
rebellion. 

In this spirit Festus visited Jerusalem almost irnme- 
diately after his arrival in the country, that he might take 
the measure of men and of parties in the Jewish capital ; 
and so be prepared to adopt such measures as should be 
most likely to calm the boding discontent of a subjugated 
nation. As soon as the governor appeared in Jerusalem, 
the high priest and his party approached him with the 
view of securing his ear against Paul. How eagerly they 
hunt him down ! It appears as if these men could not 
sleep soundly on God's earth as long as the missionary of 
the cross lived on it. He was cherishing the bud of 
Judaism into its natural fruit; but to develop the germ 
into the full gospel would cast off these usurpers who sat 
there in Moses' seat : Paul had no mercy either on their 
greed or their superstitions ; therefore they were bent on 
his ruin. This process has repeated itself down through 
the dark ages. Persecutions have seeded themselves from 



The New Governor. 



47i 



that generation to this, as surely as thistles — and as mis- 
chievously. 

The priest party endeavoured to induce the governor to 
summon Paul to Jerusalem to be tried. They had their 
own reason for this : they meant to revive the scheme 
of assassination. Festus, however, was firm : Let the 
prisoner remain at Csesarea; I shall shortly take up my 
residence there; let his accusers come thither to conduct 
the prosecution against him in the ordinary form. It was 
of the Lord that Festus — though unaware, apparently, of 
their designs — refused to comply with them. Probably 
his reasons for refusing were very prosaic and common- 
place. He was a stranger; he did not feel at home 
amongst the Jewish dignitaries in their sacred city. The 
permanent officers of the government who in such cases 
must be his councillors were resident in Csesarea. His 
legal advisers were there. No ; he will not summon the 
prisoner to Jerusalem, and begin his judicial career in such 
adverse circumstances ; he will rather go down to the seat 
of government. With all his officers around him, he will 
more firmly plant the first steps of his course in the adminis- 
tration of the country. When the Supreme has a purpose 
to be accomplished, he has instruments at hand, whether 
the elements of nature, or the thoughts that spring secretly 
in human hearts. 

By arrangement, no doubt, between the prosecutors and 
the judge, Paul's case was called on the very day after the 
governor had returned to Caesarea. He gave his first 
attention to the case which the Jewish authorities first 
pressed upon his attention. The court was constituted, 
and the pleadings on both sides heard ; but the trial insti- 
tuted with so much formality came to nothing. Instead 
of pronouncing judgment on the evidence, Festus sud- 



472 



The Church in the House. 



denly demanded of the prisoner whether he would con- 
sent to go up to Jerusalem, and there be tried in his 
presence. 

This may have been an honest proposal, founded on real 
reasons ; for Festus may have discovered gradually as the 
pleadings went on that the case in its own nature be- 
longed to the ecclesiastical court of the Sanhedrim, and that 
he, as a Eoman, was not competent to pronounce in it an 
intelligent judgment. The request, "Wilt thou go up to 
Jerusalem and there be judged of these things before 
me?" may mean that the Jewish Sanhedrim should try 
the cause under the superintendence and in presence of the 
governor. But there is also too good reason to believe that 
the enemies of Paul had, in the interval, obtained access to 
the governor, and gained him over. At all events, at 
Csesarea he himself proposed the very measure which at 
Jerusalem he rejected. 

This was the turning-point ; and the crisis could no 
longer be averted. While Paul was a man of strong faith, 
he was also a man of strong reason. He was cool and 
clear; he measured men, and framed his own plans with 
consummate political skill. Finding now that he had no 
other shield between his life and the assassin's dagger, Paul 
launched at length the bolt he had long kept concealed, — 
" I appeal unto Caesar." 

During the period of the republic, an appeal lay to the 
people, or the tribunes their representatives ; but now all 
these rights were vested in the emperor. Ordinary pro- 
vincials were entirely in the power of the governor, but those 
who possessed the privilege of Eoman citizens enjoyed the 
right of appeal. In Oriental romance you often meet with 
a traveller who possesses a mysterious talisman, which he 
always carries about, capable of preserving his life in 



The New Governor. 



473 



the last extremity. The owner of the charm abstains from 
using it in ordinary dangers ; and it is only when all other 
hope fails that at last he brings it forth. The right of 
appeal to the emperor was Paul's talisman; it was em- 
ployed only in the last resort. But it was effectual. 
It represented the Eoman empire; it wielded the power 
paramount of the world. Neither Festus on the one 
hand, nor the Jewish rulers on the other, dared to touch 
a hair of the prisoner's head while he lay under the shelter 
of imperial law. 

There is a grand burst of indignation accompanying the 
appeal. This man does well to be angry; he spares 
neither his judge nor his accusers. " To the Jews have I 
done no wrong, as thou very well knowest." In con- 
senting, contrary to his own first judgment, to remove the 
diet to Jerusalem, Festus had in effect agreed to deliver 
the victim into the murderers' hands; and so now it be- 
hoved Paul to protect himself from the Eoman procurator, 
as well as from the Jewish priests. By the constitution of 
the empire, a provincial judge might, on his own responsi- 
bility, refuse the privilege of appeal to notorious criminals, 
although their names were inscribed on the roll of citizens ; 
but it was plain enough on all sides that Paul was no 
criminal — no reckless disturber of the peace. He was 
evidently a man of purity and power. If the governor, 
yielding to the importunity of the Jews, venture to 
override this citizen's rights, the act reported at Eome will 
rebound with damaging effect on his own head. The 
legal assessors of the governor, on being consulted (ver. 
12), advised that it would not be safe to ignore the pri- 
vileges of the appellant. Thus man proposes ; but God 
disposes. All things were ordered so as to bear the 
apostle of the Gentiles to the metropolis of the Gentile world. 



474 



The Church in the House. 



The decision of the court is pronounced : " Hast thou 
appealed unto Caesar ? Unto Caesar shalt thou go." Paul, 
for his part, must have heard the words with profound 
emotion ; but the prevailing element was joy. At length, 
according to his own long-cherished desire, and the Saviour s 
gracious promise, he has the assured prospect of reaching 
Eome. He will get a free passage at the emperor's 
expense, while he travels on the business of the heavenly 
King. 

Not long after this event, Herod Agrippa — son of that 
Herod who beheaded the Baptist — who by favour of the 
emperor ruled over a portion of Syria with the title of king, 
came to Caesarea, on a visit of ceremony to the new gover- 
nor. Precisely in the same manner the various dependent 
sovereigns, who are still permitted to retain authority 
in various portions of our Indian empire, assemble to 
pay their respects to the viceroy appointed by the Queen. 
He politely acknowledges their dignities in presence of ' 
the natives ; but they understand well enough that they 
hold their crowns at the disposal of the power which he \ 
represents. a 

Although by birth an Idumean, and educated at Eome, 
Agrippa was a Jew by adoption. On this visit he was ac- f 0 
companied by Bernice, in what capacity the Scripture does ^ 
not say; but it is abundantly testified by contemporary L 
history that vices were involved in their relations which L 
ought not even to be named amongst Christians. The bad L 
fame of this woman for unblushing effrontery in the practice ^ 
of complicated and shameful vice, was proverbial in those L 
regions and times. ' ^ 

Another scene ensues, in some respects similar to that of rj 
Paul and Felix ; and yet, both in its subjects and results, L 
exhibiting several features in marked contrast with its pre- ^ , 



The Gospel fulfils the Law. 



475 



decessor. But in the essential features these two episodes 
hang like companion pictures on the wall. Agrippa, like 
Felix, sought, not the pardon of sin, but the gratification of 
curiosity ; and he fared accordingly. " Blessed are they that 
hunger." But this man was not blessed ; he died, not for 
want of food, but for want of hunger. This is a disease 
that wastes the world still. 



xcv. 

THE GOSPEL FULFILS THE LAW. 

" Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then 
Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself," etc. — Acts 
xxvi. 1-16. 

PAUL'S address before Festus and Agrippa is recorded 
with considerable fulness. It is in form, as well as 

I substance, an apology for Christianity, adapted to the 
audience and the times. 

In determining his ground, he adheres closely to his 
former line of defence. He does not demand the sanction 

1 of imperial law for the introduction of a new religion ; he 
takes his stand on the fact that the Jewish religion is a 

| 1 lawful worship, and argues that the gospel, being a legiti- 

I I mate development of Judaism, is already sanctioned. His 
e 1 language is not, Tolerate the religion which I proclaim ; 

I - but, My religion is already tolerated by the laws of the 

state. 

I I The first premise of his argument, ' The Jewish religion is 
1 tolerated in the empire,' was not disputed : the second, ' I am 
1 ' of the Jewish religion/ is the point on which the great 



47 6 The Cfairch in the House. 

apologist on this occasion pnts forth his strength. This, 
although debated in a Eoman court, was a question between I 
Jews and Christians. The Jews accused the Christians of 
having apostatised from the tolerated faith ; it was Paul's 
business, therefore, to refute this accusation — to prove that 
in accepting Christ he did not renounce Moses, and so make 
good his claim to the protection of the government under 
existing laws. 

Thus, the form which the question that day assumed, 
makes the apostle's reasoning on it very precious to the 
Church in all ages. Circumstances led him to show that 
the gospel sprang necessarily from the law, as the stalks 
and ears of harvest from the seed of spring. 

Starting from the notorious fact that in his youth he was 
himself a J ew, he proves, by a narrative of the case, that he 
had never changed ; that his progress, instead of being an 
apostasy, had been the development and glory of all the Old 
Testament revelation. 

In this aspect, the progress of revelation is somewhat 
like the progress of a plant that grows from seed. The I 
first stage is in appearance very different from the second. I 
The leaves subsequently unfolded are not a mere repeti- 1 
tion of their predecessors. Suppose a person altogether r 
unacquainted with the processes of vegetation has obtained C 
some seed, which he believes to be precious, from a foreign t 
land. He sows it in his garden, and watches its springing i 
and growth. After having seen its first leaves spread out, it 
he is called from home. The plants are left under the k 
charge of a skilful and faithful servant, and the owner does L 
not see them again for a month. On his return he visits u 
the garden to mark the progress of his valued foreign plants. ii 
He finds them growing indeed on the same spot, but Ij 
entirely changed. These are not my plants ! he exclaims. & 



The Gospel fulfils the Law. 477 



I left them with leaves smooth and almost circular ; these 
leaves are downy, corrugated, and sharply indented on all 
sides. He thinks the gardener has removed the original 
germs, and substituted others of a different kind in their 
place. The mistake is due to the ignorance of the proprietor ; 
the servant has been faithful to his charge. The owner 
ignorantly mistakes a natural development for a dishonest 
change. 

The Sanhedrim represents the prejudiced householder, 
and Paul stands for the faithful steward. The gospel which 
Paul preached was not indeed a mere reproduction of the 
Mosaic institutes; it was the growth of that germ into 
foliage, flowers, and fruit. All the sacrifices are promises. 
The Sanhedrim, in their blind zeal, would grasp these 
promise-buds, and hold them tight, and never permit them 
to open; Paul would leave these precious buds free under 
the sun and air of heaven, and watch to see whereunto they 
would grow. 

Paul held fast the hope of the promise. It was not a new 
or strange doctrine that he proclaimed. It was the promise 
made to the fathers. He was aware, while he spoke, that 
his doctrine involved the resurrection of the dead. The 
resurrection of the dead ia general, and the resurrection of 
Christ in particular, are bound up together. To deny the 
possibility of a resurrection, involves the rejection of Christ ; 
for, if the dead rise not, then is Christ not risen. There is 
reason to believe that the Herodian family, of whom Agrippa 
was, at that time, the head, had imbibed Sadducean views. 
As the king enjoyed, by favour of the Eoman emperor, the 
right of nominating the high priest, the Sadducees, under 
this ancient specimen of lay patronage, would probably 
obtain most of the chief preferments. Paul plainly assumes 
that Agrippa was a Sadducee, and endeavours to change 



478 



The Church in the House. 



the king's dark belief. " Why should it be thought a thing 
incredible with you, that God should raise the dead ? " The 
actual resurrection of Jesus, when accepted, demolishes the 
foundation-stone of the Sadducean system. 

Once more, on a great public arena, the apostle narrates 
his own conversion. He relies mightily on this as an 
instrument in his ministry. In order to provide a fulcrum 
for his lever, he carefully notes, at the outset, that he too 
was once against Jesus of Nazareth. And here the grand 
natural character of Saul emerges in striking outlines. 
What he thought to be his duty, that he resolutely per- 
formed. He thought the disciples of Jesus were a sect of 
deceivers, and therefore he determined to hunt them down. 
This is the essence of persecution in every age. It is a 
conviction lodged in a strong but unenlightened mind, that 
those who refuse compliance with the authorised orthodoxy 
should be put to death. It is that grim sense of duty, 
combined with a perverted religious belief, that has done all 
the killing of the saints. While Paul was an unbeliever, 
he thought it right to put the disciples of Christ to death, 
and he acted on his conviction; but when he became 
himself a disciple, he changed, not only his side, but his 
method. After he became a Christian, he believed that 
the unbelieving Jews erred fatally in their faith; but we 
never hear a whisper of any desire on his part to put them 
in prison, or to take away their lives. Christ made him 
free, and when he was delivered from condemnation, his 
law was love. This experience has been repeated in more 
recent times. As long as the superstition of Eome was 
predominant in Europe, it put heretics to death; when 
the Eeformation triumphed, argument came in place of the 
stake. It is remarkable how directly contrary are the 
maxims of Eome to the precepts of the gospel. See l - 



Knowing the True, and doing the Right. 479 

(Titus iii. 10) a specific instruction to Christians how they 
ought to treat those who maintain erroneous doctrine ; 
"A man that is an heretic after the first and second 
admonition reject." Paul says, Exclude him from your 
communion ; Rome says, Burn him at a stake. 

We obtain an incidental hint here regarding the methods 
of torture adopted by ancient J ewish inquisitors — " I com- 
pelled them to blaspheme." It is not said that Christians 
under that cruel compulsion actually blasphemed the holy 
name whereby they were called. The persecutor endeavoured 
to force them to a denial of the Lord, but he did not succeed. 
The heathen magistrates during the first three centuries 
adopted precisely the same plan, with the same result. The 
martyrs suffered, but would not sin. 



XCVI. 

, KNOWING THE TRUE, AND DOING THE RIGHT. 

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, 
and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." — 
. Acts xxvi. 18. 

SOME additional " words of the Lord Jesus," addressed to 
the stricken persecutor near the gate of Damascus, 
i I have been preserved for us in the defence before Agrippa. 
i { The design of the Lord in calling this man is clearly and 
k minutely specified, — "To open their eyes, and to turn them 
H i from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
I i God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inherit- 
1 3 ance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." 
% 8 Limiting our view, in the first instance, to the description 



480 



The Church in the House. 



here given of the saving change wrought in the man at 
his conversion, we find that it consists of two parts, — the 
enlightenment of the mind, and the renewing of the life. 
These two parts may be separately expressed, but they 
cannot separately exist. They may be expounded as suc- 
cessive topics ; but they must be gained together as parallel 
attainments. You do not first get your eyes opened, and 
thereafter your heart and life turned round ; neither do you 
practically turn first, and intelligently observe afterwards. 
The opening helps you to turn, but the turning also helps 
you to open. In the Christian life, true understanding and 
right action go together, as the right and left side of a living 
man. The regeneration is made up of truth and righteous- 
ness. Like the rays of light and rays of heat which proceed 
in company from the sun, they may be distinguished by 
philosophical analysis, but can never be separated in fact. 
The more that I actually turn from the power of Satan, 
the more do I intelligently perceive and appreciate God's 
truth ; and the more I know of God's truth in my mind, the 
more do I turn from wickedness in my life. An artist may 
first paint a man's body, expressing the form and action of 
every limb, and thereafter attach the head; or he may 
portray first the countenance, with the expression of every 
feature complete, and thereafter represent the body. But 
there is a great difference between the methods of nature 
and of art. The man was not made as he was painted. 
From the dim deep of non-existence, the being emerges, 
minute, but not mutilated. Head and body are small and 
shadowy at first, but head and body are both there, and both 
grow together unto perfection. So grows also the new man. 
It is not first the body of right life brought to perfection, 
and thereafter the spiritual understanding attained ; nor is the 
spiritual understanding first attained, and thereafter the body 



Knowing the True, and doing the Right. 48 1 

of a right conduct added. Both, and both together, emerge 
in embryo, under the great Creator's hand, and both grow 
together, up to the stature of a perfect man in Christ, — a 
man who knows God's will, and therefore does it • does it, 
and therefore knows it. Having once stated the necessary 
connection and reciprocal influence of these two, we may 
now consider them separately in succession. 

To open their eyes, although a figurative expression here, 
scarcely requires any exposition. It is that aspect of the 
Spirit's regenerating work which concerns the knowing of 
saving truth. It is the work of regeneration as it affects 
the understanding : it is that unction of the Holy One which 
enables the renewed to know all things that God has revealed 
for his own glory and men's good. The practical turning, 
on the other hand, being perhaps more difficult of compre- 
hension, is here more fully expressed. There is only one 
turning; but you turn from two things, and toward two 
things. At least two expressions are employed to indicate 
what you turn from, and as many to indicate what you 
turn to, — 

From Darkness and the power of Satan ; 

To Light and God. 
The things on this side seem two ; and the things on that 
side seem two ; yet on either side there is substantially only 
one. God and Light do not here represent separate and 
different objects; for God is Light: Darkness and the 
power of Satan do not here represent separate and different 
objects ; for the power of Satan is Darkness. 

According to the word of Christ the Master, the foremost 
part of the servant's work is to turn men from darkness and 
the power of Satan. When the Saviour's word goes forth 
upon the world, it finds all standing with the face to dark- 
ness and the back to light, therefore the foundation of all 

2 H 



482 The Church in the House. 

true preaching is, Turn ; " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye 
die ?" was the key-note of Old Testament preaching ; and, 
" Eepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," was the 
harbinger of the gospel in the fulness of time. 

Observe how and where we obtain the information that 
we are all at first in sin and under condemnation : it is not 
announced by an angry J udge ; we gather it from the 
breathings of a compassionate Eedeemer. It is a Friend who 
tells us the terrible truth that we are lost in our own 
sin ; we should, therefore, all the more willingly take it in, 
and take it home. He who tells us knows all the case. He 
knows what is in man to deserve the sentence ; and what is 
in God to inflict it. " Hear ye Him." 

Suppose a captive in an inner prison, with many succes- 
sive circles of strong walls around him ; and suppose 
further that he has never been led or carried through these 
outer gates, but has been born and reared within the fast- 
ness. If he is led out at last into liberty, he will discover 
the number of the retaining walls, and the thickness of each. 
The discovery will be pleasant, although it is the discovery 
of the strength of his prison, when his escape first reveals 
the depth of his bondage. 

Thus the man whom the Son of God makes free discovers 
the strength of his prison-house. It is in going out of it 
that you learn how deep and dark it is. 

In the spiritual darkness, Satan's power is put forth : 
that power seeks the darkness, and the darkness favours 
that power. The two work to each other's hands. 

When you turn from the darkness, it is to the light : 
when you wrench yourself out of the tempter's power, it is 
to come to God. Perhaps some are thinking about this 
grand decisive change. They are afraid of remaining in the 
darkness ; but, alas ! they are also afraid to come to the 



Knowing the True, and doing the Right 483 



light : they are afraid of being longer in the power of Satan ; 
but there is one thing of which they are still more afraid, 
and that is, to come near to God. 

The prodigal was for a long time unhappy after his money 
was all spent ; when the pleasures of sin were exhausted, 
he endured its miseries many a day, because he dreaded more 
to be seen at home a beggar, and to meet an angry father's 
face, than to endure hunger, and filth, and nakedness in a 
foreign land. Perhaps some of our readers are in the condi- 
tion of the prodigal during that interval between the time 
when he fell into beggary, and the time when he fell on his 
father's neck. You are not easy where you are. The 
darkness is now dreadful ; but the light, with all your sins 
upon you, is more dreadful still. Satan's chain is heavy ; 
but you would rather bear it than go right into the hands 
of the living God. Blessed are those prodigals who are 
brought the length of the grand decisive turning, " I will 
arise and go to my father." 

To the filthy in his filthiness, the prospect of being ex- 
posed in the light is dreadful : to the rebellious who has 
broken his father's heart, the prospect of meeting his 
father is more formidable than all the miseries of his con- 
dition. But when he turns, all is changed ; when he is 
1 1 clothed in the fairest robe, he need not shrink from the light 
of his father's dwelling, or the glance of a brother's eye ; 
when he lies on the Father's bosom, deep in the Father's 
3 unfathomable love, he will no longer think it dreadful to 
come to his Father. 

The second portion of this verse describes the privileges 
i| obtained in conversion. These are pardon and the inherit- 
i ance. The gift, like the work, is twofold ; it removes from 
\A a believer what he deserves, and bestows upon him the 
M , deserts of his Eedeemer. The birthright of condemnation 



484 



The Church in the House. 



is taken away, and the birthright of sons is conferred. 
Christ has taken your portion and you obtain his. The 
text teaches substitution in both its parts. 

The pardon and the inheritance go together. Those who 
are not forgiven have no inheritance among the sanctified ; 
and those who have no inheritance among the sanctified are 
not forgiven. No human being is forgiven and then left 
outcast ; no human being is admitted to the inheritance un- 
forgiven. None with his sins standing to his own account 
is admitted among the children ; none of the children have 
their sins standing to their own account. Both, or neither. 
Christ is not divided. Hereafter a heaven awaits the holy ; 
here the holy ripen for heaven. 



XCVII. 
SOBERNESS. 

" But Paul said, I am not mad, most noble Festus ; but speak forth the words of 
truth and soberness."— Acts xxvl 25. 

LONG, long ago, a native Egyptian, whose cottage stood 
near one of the slave settlements, might have observed 
a family of the captive Hebrew race bringing a lamb to the 
house one night, and after mysteriously sprinkling the door- 
posts with its blood, assembling to eat it in a strange and 
inexplicable fashion, with their loins girt, and sandals on 
their feet, and each holding a staff in his hand, as if the 
poor bond brickmakers had any liberty to plan or execute a 
journey. The people are mad, thinks the Egyptian, as he 
quietly eyes from his own door their eccentric and unintelli- 
gible movements. Not so thought he at next morning's 
dawn, as he bent over the bed on which his first-born lay a 



Soberness. 



485 



corpse, and heard in the distance the marching music of the 
emancipated Hebrews as they gathered to the rendezvous. 
No : those poor Hebrews were not mad when they sacrificed 
and ate their first passover : and he who thought them mad 
at night, observes and owns their wisdom in the morning. 

The valley of the lower Jordan was a rich plain, studded 
with thriving cities, when Lot looked down upon it from the 
brow of the neighbouring hill, and chose it for his home. A 
lucky man was he. All his expectations were fulfilled. 
Soon he became a chief citizen of the chief city. His sons 
were rising men ; and his daughters were introduced into 
the best society. His house was one of the most substantial 
in the city, and his agricultural wealth enabled him to main- 
tain it on a scale of princely hospitality. One day three 
angels came to this prosperous man, on an errand from their 
Master. They advised him to abandon all, and flee with his 
family to the mountains. As he lingered, not absolutely 
refusing obedience, but unable to make up his mind to the 
costly sacrifice, they laid hold of his hand and hurried him 
away. Are not the angels mad to tear a prosperous and 
respectable man so rudely from so warm a berth ; and is he 
not mad himself for consenting to go ? When Lot paused, 
panting for breath, half way up the hill- side, and saw the 
smoke covering the doomed cities as with the pall of death, 
he well knew that the words which warned him away to a 
refuge in the rock were words of truth and soberness. 

In a high latitude on the southern ocean, far from the 
track of the world's commerce, a noble ship, well found and 
well manned, is spreading her sails to the breeze and bound- 
ing lightly through the waves, her rough exploring work 
completed, and her head turned homeward at last. All 
suddenly the whole ship's company congregate astern ; some 
hasty words are spoken ; the nearest boats are lowered ; with 



486 



The Church in the House. 



only a bit of bread for their next meal, and not a scrap of 
clothing except what they wore, they hurry over the ship's 
sides, stow themselves away in the boats, and cut adrift on 
an unfrequented sea. The men are mad, are they not ? 
No ; for a smouldering fire deep in the ship's hold beyond 
their reach, has wormed its way to the magazine, and it is 
but a reckoning of minutes to the time when the ship will 
be blown into a thousand fragments. The men are wise 
men. " Skin for skin ; yea, all that a man hath will he 
give for his life." They have given away all that they had 
for their life ; and they have made a good bargain, Had 
you been there, you would have applauded their counsel, 
and joined in their act. 

A few years ago, in the United States of America, a 
young woman of taste and genius burst into sudden and 
great celebrity as a brilliant writer in the periodical litera- 
ture of the day. After a youth of constant and oppressive 
struggle she found herself at length an object of admiration 
and envy throughout her native land. The world was all 
before her; the ball was at her foot. Fanny Forester's 
troubles were over, and her fortune made. She has reached 
the throne at last, and may now sit as a queen in the high- 
est circles of American society. 

The fashionable world had no sooner recognised and 
accepted their favourite, than rumours began to spread, 
muffled at first, but anon breaking out in clear tones and 
distinct articulation, that their chosen heroine had consented 
to become the wife of Judson, now far advanced in life, and 
to plunge with him into the darkest heart of heathendom, 
there to burn her life-lamp down to the socket learning a 
barbarous language, taming a cruel race, and contending 
with a pestilential climate, — all that she might make known 
the love of J esus to an uncivilised and idolatrous nation. 



Soberness. 



487 



To Burmah she went ; did and bore her Saviour's will there 
till life could hold out no longer ; and then came home to 
die. " The woman is mad/' rang from end to end of 
America, echoing and re-echoing through the marts of trade 
and the salons of fashion, — " the woman is mad." Herself 
caught the word and the thought, and like the liberated 
Hebrews in the wilderness, consecrated what she had 
borrowed from the Egyptians to the service of the Lord. 
She wrote and published an essay on " The Madness of the 
Missionary Enterprise," in which she effectively turned the 
money-making and pleasure-loving world of her own people 
upside down. The missionary cleared herself and her cause, 
leaving the imputation of madness lying on the other side. 

As long as there are persons in the world who seek first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and other persons 
living close at hand who seek that kingdom in the second 
place, and in subordination to the claims of gain or fashion, 
there must necessarily be a strongly-marked opposition of 
sentiment between the two classes. They cannot both be 
right. Wherever convictions are keenly felt, and the con- 
sequent conduct is distinctly outlined, both parties will 
observe the difference, and each will frame his own judg- 
ment regarding it. Where the principles and conduct of 
two persons are opposite in regard to the chief aim of life, 
each must necessarily think his neighbour in the wrong. 
If two are sleeping in one bed, and if one arise at midnight 
and flee to the fields from a conviction that the house is 
tottering to its fall, while the other though wide awake lies 
still in bed, the one who remains at ease within the house 
thinks his companion a fool for his pains. And he must 
think so. If he did not think so he could not lie still 
another moment. For him only two alternatives are pos- 
sible ; either he must think that the man who fled is a fool, 



488 



The Church in the House. 



or he must arise and flee too with all his might. As long as 
he lies there he cannot afford to admit a belief of his neigh- 
bour's wisdom, for to admit that neighbour's wisdom is to 
convict himself of suicidal madness. Accordingly, he holds 
fast by his creed that the other man is a fool ; and the 
moment that creed fails him, he arises and flees too for 
his life. 

Poor Festus could not think — could not speak otherwise 
to Paul, — unless, like the jailer of Philippi, he had on the 
instant become a Christian, and made profession of his faith. 
The subject was obviously the greatest ; the case had been 
clearly stated ; this story of a Divine Saviour, the just giving 
himself for the unjust, is either true or false. If it is true, 
Paul is right ; but if Paul is right, Festus is wrong. Not 
being prepared to confess this, and yield to its consequences, 
he took the only other alternative that remained. Festus, 
knowing well that on this point, — the turning-point of an 
immortal for all eternity, — where two hold opposite opinions, 
there must be madness somewhere, determined to throw 
the imputation from himself. Festus said, "Thou art mad, 
Paul." Paul replied, " I am not mad, Festus ;" and the two 
men parted perhaps never to meet again on earth. 

What then ? Is it another case in which two men enter- 
tain different opinions, and in which each may safely hold 
his own ? Alas ! it cannot be. One of the two is mad, and 
in his madness throws himself away. Paul is sober ; Festus 
is the fool. 

To make perishing treasures the true centre to which the 
soul gravitates, and round which the life revolves, while the 
things that pertain to eternity are left to follow as they may 
in a secondary place, is abnormal and mischievous. The 
wrench is as fatal as would be the revolution in the material 
universe, if the sun, by external violence, were compelled to 



The Upper Classes. 



489 



move round the earth, or the earth to move round the moon. 
In the practical question which every one must once in his 
life decide for himself, — the question whether he shall be 
his own master, or accept with all his heart and soul the 
gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ, — there are only two 
sides. One side is right and safe ; the other side is wrong 
and ruinous. " 0 send out thy light and thy truth ; let 
them lead me." 



SIXTY years since, a certain attached domestic, presum- 
ing on the privilege that was frequently in those days 
tacitly accorded to his class, roundly reproved his master, 
a great Scottish proprietor, for the sin of profane swearing. 
Although no record remains of the argument, it is evident 
that John had taken a leaf out of the great apostle's book, 
and besides speaking of righteousness and temperance, had 
given a broad hint about the " judgment to come ; " for the 
laird, feeling that he had not a leg to stand on, cut the matter 
short by the remark, " It has pleased Providence to place our 
family in a superior position in this world, and I trust he 
11 will do the same in the next." This is a real case; but it is 
an extreme, and perhaps we may add, at least in our own day, 
a rare one. On the other side there are, not here and there 
one, but everywhere many, who wear coronets and pray. 
In this respect the lines of our generation have fallen in a 
pleasant place. For present privilege we should "thank 
God," and for future prospects " take courage." But between 



XCVIII. 



THE UPPEE CLASSES. 



"Most noble Festus."— Acts xxvi. 25. 




490 



The Church in the House. 



the two extremes of evil and good, of gross, stolid earthliness, 
and humble, intelligent, strong faith, in the upper ten thou- 
sand of British society, how many diversities in constitu- 
tional character and external circumstances ! How wide is 
the field, how difficult the culture, and how vast the product, 
if it were made fruitful over all its breadth ! 

It was an outstanding feature of Paul's character to ap- 
preciate correctly another man's difficulties, and to sympa- 
thise tenderly with those whose position magnified the 
offence of the cross. There is strength, no doubt, in this 
preacher, but there is sensibility too. He cannot be weak ; 
but neither is it in him to be rude. " Most noble Festus," 
said he. Oh, I love the great missionary for that word. I 
think I hear his voice thrilling as he utters it. Eight well 
he knew that, other things being equal, it was harder for the 
Eoman governor than for a meaner man to obey the gospel, 
and cast in his lot with the Christians. He will not flatter the 
august stranger ; he will not suggest that the elevated and 
refined may have a private door opened to admit them into 
heaven, and so escape the humiliation of going in by the 
same gate with the vulgar throng. This missionary is faith- 
ful, but he is never harsh. He makes allowance for every 
one's temptations, and becomes all things to all men, that he 
may gain some. In the polite, respectful address of the 
Christian apostle to the Eoman magistrate lies a principle 
that is permanent, precious, practical. Let us endeavour to 
understand and apply it. 

We speak of the aristocracy here in no narrow or technical 
sense. The subject concerns the whole human race, and 
bears directly on their eternal destiny. We speak at present 
of the uppermost strata of human society, whether birth, 
wealth, energy, intellect, or learning may have been the more 
immediate cause of their elevation. We speak of those who 



The Upper Classes. 



491 



stand highest among men, without pausing to inquire what 
has raised them. Now, while it is true of all this upper class 
that they need the salvation of Christ, and get the offer of it 
on precisely the same terms as those who stand on a lower 
platform, it is also true that, over and above the temptations 
common to all men, some temptations peculiar to themselves 
stand in the way of the highest, increasing the difficulty of 
accepting the gospel. They are the wisest missionaries, and 
the best successors of the apostles, who own this peculiarity, 
and make allowance for it in their methods. 

One of our Lord's sayings, in reference to the species of 
aristocracy which is constituted by wealth, may throw light 
accross our whole theme : " Then said Jesus unto his dis- 
ciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto 
you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" 
(Matt. xix. 23, 24). Of this wonderful word it is generally 
one side, and that the harsher, that men take to themselves, 
or present to their neighbours. Would that we could enter 
into the tender spirit of the Lord Jesus when he uttered 
this pungent warning ! Assuming that the needle's eye re- 
presents the low narrow door through the wall of a fortified 
city by the side of the principal gate, for use by night or in 
time of war when the great entrance must be shut, — you 
have here a passage from danger into safety, not impracticable 
in its own nature, but impracticable in point of fact to a 
camel, because of its own huge bulk. The foe is pursuing, the 
fortress is near, a gate stands open, but this low door- way 
through the wall cannot be enlarged, and if the fugitive who 
seeks an entrance carry a high head by nature, how shall he 
be saved ? Thus the elevation of the highest class makes 
their entrance into Christ's kingdom more difficult. Of this 



49 2 The Church in the House. 

difficulty Jesus speaks with tenderness. Let all his servants 
in this matter follow his steps. " Most noble Festus," said 
the preacher, observing that the habitual dignity of the Eoman 
and the official hauteur of the governor were holding high 
the head of a poor sinful creature, and hindering him from 
bowing before the Cross of Christ ; — Most noble Festus, re- 
spectfully and politely said that fervent, eloquent Jew, doing 
what in him lay to gratify the great man's feelings, and so 
get the lost man saved. 

From the style of the apostle's address at this critical 
moment, two lessons flow ; or rather in it one lesson shines, 
sending out its light-beams in two opposite directions, and 
teaching wisdom to two opposite classes of men. 

For ardent Christians of every rank, and especially Chris- 
tians of humble station and moderate attainments, there lies 
a lesson here. If you are true disciples, none will dispute 
the patent of your nobility. If you are born again, you are 
high-born, how low soever your place may be in the registers 
of earth. But that is not the point in hand at present. 
Beware of presuming upon your place and your privilege. 
Be conscious of your defects, and meek in your deportment. 
Be all things to all men, that you may gain some. In par- 
ticular, beware of throwing a stumbling-block in the way of 
the noble, the rich, or the refined, by any species of rudeness. 
Take care lest you mistake vulgarity for faithfulness, and 
your own ignorance for the simplicity that is in Christ. 
You have been reconciled unto God through the death of his 
Son ; you have joy and peace in believing : well ; there are 
some men near you who have not yet submitted to the gospel. 
They stand high, some on wealth, some on birth, some on 
intellect ; in these matters they stand higher than ever you 
stood. That elevation makes it harder for them to bow down 
and go in by the strait gate. Had you stood on an equal 



The Upper Classes. 



493 



height, perhaps you would not have been within the gate 
to-day. Be tender, careful, watchful, prayerful, regarding 
them. What if they should turn away from Christ because 
of some rude incrustations of character that they saw in you, 
and mistook for veritable features of the gospel which you 
profess ! Think of their peculiar difficulties ; do not make 
them greater ; take some of them out of the way if you can. 
He that winneth souls is wise ; ay, and he must be wise 
that would win souls. 

For the " most noble " of every class there lies a lesson 
here. We frankly own that there are nobles among men. 
We address the chiefs of our tribe as Paul addressed the 
Eoman governor of J udsea, and in good faith we give to each 
the title of respect which is his due. Sirs, you cherish a 
high sense of honour, and hold in abomination every mean 
sneaking thing wherever it may appear ; you have by educa- 
tion and habit cultivated a refined taste, and everything rude 
grates upon your nerves, like rusty iron rubbing on your flesh. 
You have exercised your understanding, and cannot pay any 
deference to mere assertion, when it is backed by no proof. 
These attributes you possess and exercise. We appreciate 
their worth, and extend to you our cordial sympathy in 
regard to them. Well, and what follows ? Great and good 
though these attainments be, what is a man profited if he 
gain them all, and a whole world besides, if he lose his own 
soul ? These are very good, but " one thing is needful and 
it is by sitting like Mary at the feet of Jesus that any man 
can attain that needful thing. Strive to enter by the strait 
gate into the kingdom, for your attainments, though in them- 
selves good, may be so worn that they shall greatly increase 
the difficulty of the process. 

Finally, beware of allowing the rudeness and other defects 
of those who are or seem to be Christians, to scare you away 



494 The Church in the House. 

from Christ. It may be true that some are hypocrites alto- 
gether, and some who are really Christians retain many 
repulsive faults ; but oh, my most noble brother, it will be 
no consolation to you if you are not forgiven, renewed, and 
savejcl, that you are able to convict professing Christians of 
many faults. You are not asked to believe in Christians, 
but to believe in Christ. 



XCIX. 
THE VOYAGE. 

" And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul 
and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' 
band," etc. — Acts xxvii. 1-25. 

PAUL'S voyage to Eome is recorded with great minute- 
ness, and with great accuracy. At first we are 
somewhat surprised to find so large a portion of the book 
occupied by the details of a voyage and a shipwreck ; but 
on closer examination, we discover an adequate cause. This 
journey marks the crisis of the Jewish people. They had 
resisted all offers, and finally rejected Christ. Now God 
had given them over ; and the departure of Paul from J eru- 
salem to Eome was the transference of the kingdom to the 
Gentiles. 

At last " it was determined that we should sail into Italy." 
Away from the shore of Palestine this " chosen vessel " must 
go at last, to bear the name of Christ to the central seat of 
the Eoman power. His earlier journeys into Asia Minor 
and Greece were preliminary and fragmentary ; this voyage 
from Caesarea is the great hingeing-point of the world's his- 
tory. Therein the kingdom of God passed away from the 



The Voyage. 



495 



nation of Israel and took possession of the world. This 
journey of the apostle constitutes the link of communion 
between the East and the West. By this line ran the secret 
fire of the Divine life from Israel to the Gentiles. No voy- 
age in all the course of time has been charged with so great 
results for humankind. The Word has now in its fulness 
gone forth from Jerusalem ; and in that Word shall all the 
kindreds of the earth be blessed. 

Paul, with certain other prisoners under the charge of a 
Eoman centurion named Julius, was put on board a ship of 
Adramyttium, bound northward along the Phenician coast, 
and afterwards along the southern shore of Asia Minor. 
Julius distinguished Paul from the other prisoners, and 
accorded him as much liberty as was consistent with his 
safe custody ; induced to this kindness, no doubt, by learn- 
ing that Agrippa had in open court pronounced him an 
innocent man. 

Sidon, their first port of call, was the great harbour of 
the Canaanites. It lay within the territory prophetically 
assigned to Israel, but it was never actually in their posses- 
sion. At this time, however, the standard of the Lord's 
kingdom was planted on its soil. The apostle was permitted 
to go ashore to refresh himself in the company of his friends 
who resided there. Wherever there is a disciple of Christ, 
there a missionary has a friend and a home. This is the 
result after which Freemasonry aspires ; but the faith in 
Christ would gain the end better without the aid of such a 
dubious ally. Freemasonry seems a fungus that has grown 
on Christianity at a time when the mighty stem was not in 
good health. It is an abnormal growth that damages the 
vigour of the tree. 

From Sidon, on the Syrian coast, you may, in favourable 
circumstances, sail in a straight line to Myra in Asia Minor, 



496 



The Church in the House, 



keeping Cyprus on the right, and avoiding the circuitous 
angle round the shore ; but the wind being from the west, 
the mariners of that day were not able to tack against it, 
and were obliged to creep along the coast northward till they 
reached the bay at the mouth of the Orontes, the river 
of Antioch, and then westward along the Asiatic coast to 
Myra. 

This harbour was probably the destiny of the ship. The 
prisoners were here transferred to another vessel, belonging 
to Alexandria, and laden with grain for Eome. As the 
wind continued westerly, they crept slowly for many days 
along the coast, until they gained sight of Cnidus, a large 
city on the mainland, on the extremity of a long, narrow 
peninsula, where the coast-line turns northward to the 
Dardanelles. Here, accordingly, it was necessary to leave 
the shore and stand out to sea. The wind compelled them 
to keep a south-westerly course, till they reached the eastern 
extremity of the island of Crete. Passing the point of Sal- 
mone, they found themselves in smoother water, and wore 
westward on the southern side of the island as far as a place 
called the Fair Havens. There seems to have been no town 
at that harbour, but Lasea was not far off. At this anchor- 
age the ship lay a long time waiting for fairer winds ; but as 
it was now the end of September, and the navigation of the 
Mediterranean was considered dangerous at that season, 
Paul counselled the parties in charge of the ship to winter 
there. The master of the ship, however, in concert with the 
centurion, determined to set sail again, and endeavour to 
make Phenice, another harbour of Crete, further westward, 
and affording better shelter. 

"When the wind veered to the south, thinking they had 
gained their object, they left Pair Haven s and again crept 
westward along the coast. But ere they had been long at 



The Voyage. 



497 



sea, the weather suddenly changed, and a hurricane, named 
Euroclydon, struck the ship as she was sailing easily with 
her boat in tow at her stern. 

The storm must have blown from the north-east ; for when 
they allowed the ship to run before the gale, she was carried 
to the island of Clauda, which lies in the sea twenty miles 
south-west of the spot where the tempest caught them. 
Creeping under the lee shore of that island, they found 
themselves for a time under shelter of land, and in com- 
paratively smooth water. Here, accordingly, they took the 
opportunity of trimming the ship. Some very necessary 
things were now done which could not have been done in the 
gale. The boat had been in tow when the storm came on, 
and it was impossible to take it on board while the sea was 
running high : now, with some difficulty, they hauled it on 
board. They then " used helps, undergirding the ship." The 
hull was not so well constructed in those days as now. Nor 
was the strain so well distributed as in modern ships ; for 
they used only one mast, and the huge sail suspended on it 
threw all the strain on one spot. Fearing lest the timbers 
should part, they brought ropes over the bow and under the 
keel, making the ends fast on deck by twisting, as logs of 
wood are fastened together on a cart. Though it seems to 
us a feeble and clumsy expedient, it might in certain cir- 
cumstances avert a shipwreck by keeping the planks from 
springing, and so preventing a fatal leak. 

It may be proved, by stretching a ruler on the indicated 
line in a map of the Mediterranean, that if the ship had 
continued to run before the wind, she would have been 
driven into Syrtis, a bay of quicksand on the African coast, 
greatly dreaded by ancient seamen. In dread of this cata- 
strophe, they hauled down their great sail, probably hoisting 
a small storm-sail in its stead, and lay to, as close to the 

2 I 



49 8 7>&£ Church in the House. 



wind as the ship would lie. It can be shown that this 
position would give her a drift motion precisely in the 
direction of Malta, the place on which she ultimately 
struck. 

The storm increased ; there was danger now lest the ship 
should founder in deep water. The crew therefore threw 
cargo overboard in order to lighten her. Subsequently, even 
the tackling of the ship was thrown out in the extremity of 
their fear and their eagerness to keep afloat. As the storm 
raged with unabated violence, and no observation could be 
obtained on account of the continued darkness, the officers 
and seamen abandoned themselves to despair. Man's 
extremity became God's opportunity. The Lord encouraged 
his servant Paul, and Paul became a rallying-point to the 
helpless multitude. When the sight of all utterly failed, 
the faith of one bore them through. 

From the answer given by the Lord (verse 24), we can 
clearly gather what his servant had asked. " Fear not," said 
the Lord to Paul: Paul therefore had been fearful. His 
faith did not exempt him from the weakness of human 
nature. " Not for that we would be unclothed :" the watery 
grave that yawned beneath the creaking ship made the 
man's flesh creep, although his soul was upheld by a hope 
that runs through all these troubled waters, and fastens on 
the Anchor within the veil. 

We learn further that he desired to live longer ; for mani- 
festly the intimation that his life would be prolonged was 
meant to comfort him. 

Again, we gather that he must, have pleaded for the lives 
of all the ship's company, without respect of persons. The 
answer, given to set his mind at rest, bears that the Lord 
had given him all that sailed with him. It is better for 
all in the ship that they have a Paul on board hastening 



In the Storm. 



499 



to execute God's commission on the earth, than to have 
a Jonah fleeing from his work and hiding from his Master. 

Finally, the main reason why Paul so earnestly desired the 
prolongation of his own life, was that he might accomplish 
his life's great purpose — that he might preach Christ in the 
highest places of the heathen world. " Fear not, Paul ; thou 
must be brought before Caesar." This " must " points to the 
purpose of the Omnipotent. It was God's will that this 
messenger should publish the gospel in Eome ; and his pur- 
pose shall stand. The tumults of the people had already 
been stilled ; and now the waves of the sea must hear and 
obey the same Divine command. Neither tumult will be 
permitted to swallow up the " chosen vessel," until it has 
discharged its precious burden on the appointed spot. 



C. 

IN THE STORM. 

"Saying, Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought before Csesar : and, lo, God 
hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good 
cheer : for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me," etc. — Acts 
^xvii. 24-37. 

" TTOWBEIT we must be cast upon a certain island " 
XI (verse 26). What island? There are two of the 
same name, Malta, and Meleda in the Gulf of Venice. The 
question long in debate may be considered settled now. It 
must be Malta. It seems now strange that not a few 
inquirers, both in earlier and more modern times, pronounced 
in favour of Meleda. Their reasons were founded on mis- 
takes, which have now been explained. For example, the 
term Adria was supposed to show that the island must have 
been in the Adriatic Gulf, which stretches northward to 



5oo 



The Church in the House, 



Venice ; but it is certain that that part of the Mediterranean 
which lies between Crete and Malta was in ancient times 
called the Adriatic Sea; and the mistake has arisen from 
confounding this with the Adriatic Gulf. The term " bar- 
barian," too, applied to the inhabitants of Malta, was supposed 
to be inappropriate to that island, inasmuch as under the 
rule of the Eomans the people at that date had attained some 
considerable measure of civilisation ; but it was the custom 
in those times to apply the term "barbarian" indiscrimi- 
nately to all except those who employed the Greek or Latin 
tongue. 

The terms translated "driven up and down in Adria" 
simply mean " driven through Adria." Drifting in the direc- 
tion that the wind would carry them, at the rate of a mile 
and a half an hour — the rate at which it is known a ship 
under such circumstances would go — they must strike on the 
north-east corner of Malta between the thirteenth and four- 
teenth day after leaving Clauda. Thus accurately has the 
narrative been given. 

About midnight, while no object was visible, the shipmen, 
judging from signs with which all mariners are familiar, 
deemed that they drew near some land. We may assume 
that the seamen heard the sound of breakers on the shore ; 
'but these breakers could not have been ahead. With a gale 
blowing towards the land, if the rocks had been right in the 
ship's course, she must have been so near the rocks before 
the sound could be heard, that she must have struck before 
it was possible to bring her up. On consulting the map, we 
find that a ship drifting in a straight line from Clauda would 
pass near a projecting headland, and after passing it enter 
a bay, still called St. Paul's Bay ; and in crossing the bay, 
after hearing the breakers on the promontory, there would 
be time to bring up the ship by her anchors before she reached 



In the Storm. 



501 



the land on the other side. It is known that during a north- 
easter, the sea beats furiously on this headland. 

On hearing the sound which indicated land, they sounded, 
and found the depth twenty fathoms. This is precisely the 
depth opposite the point ; and the soundings forward in the 
middle of the bay gave fifteen fathoms. Fearing, from the 
diminishing depth of their soundings, lest they should fall 
among rocks, " they cast four anchors out of the stern, and 
wished for the day." Many foolish things have been urged 
against this method, and against the authenticity of the 
narrative. It can be demonstrated that what the sailors did 
was right in the circumstances, although it was a deviation 
from the ordinary routine. They must have been so near 
the rocks, that if they had brought the ship up by the bow, 
she might have struck in the act of coming round. In the 
Crimean war, when the ship Lord Raglan was placed in similar 
circumstances, and all hope of saving her was abandoned, the 
captain run her ashore, bow on, and was much commended 
for his judgment. 

By this time the plan of the seamen was matured. They 
meant to run the ship aground. They had made up their 
minds that she must become a wreck, and all their energies 
were directed towards the saving of human life. But for 
this object everything depended on getting the ship beached 
on a shelving bank, and not running her on rocks. Now if 
her bow is to the shore when the daylight comes, they will 
be able to see where there is an opening, and by the use of 
sail and rudder, to turn her a little to the right or left, so as 
to strike on a favourable spot. On the other hand, if the 
morning should find them anchored by the bow, close to a 
weather shore, with a gale blowing from the sea, as soon as 
they should lift the anchor she would strike, long before they 
could take measures for turning her about. 



502 



The Church in the House, 



It is objected that a ship's anchors are always kept lying 
near the bow ; but as this ship had at least four, none of 
them would be very large, and there were several hundreds 
of able-bodied men on board. The anchors could have been 
carried aft in a few moments. But even this suggestion is 
not necessary ; for in a painting found at Herculaneum, 
a galley is represented with the anchor cables running out 
from holes in the stern. 

While they waited in this position for the dawn, they were 
exposed to two dangers, known to the seamen, but of which 
the landsmen on board would not be aware. On one hand, 
the anchors might drag ; — in point of fact they held fast, but 
this could not be known till experience proved it. It is 
worthy of note that in the English sailing directions you 
learn that the ground in St. Paul's Bay is so good that 
" while the cables hold there is no danger, as the anchors 
will never start." But, on the other hand, the ship might 
founder at anchor. The risk of this was greater now than 
when she was drifting. 

Fearing lest the ship should founder or strike before 
morning, the sailors basely and selfishly formed a plan to 
save their own lives and leave the passengers to their fate. 
They intended to make their own way to shore in the boat ; 
but as they were in a minority, they found it necessary to 
dissemble, and effect their purpose by stealth. They found a 
very plausible veil under which to cover their design. The 
ship, made fast by the stern and the sea washing over her, 
labours dangerously. The movement may gnaw the cables 
asunder ; if she were anchored also by the bow she would 
ride more at ease. But it is obvious that this can be accom- 
plished only by carrying an anchor forward a cable's-length 
in a boat, and dropping it there. Thus the skilled seamen 
obtained a colourable pretext for lowering the boat and 



In the Storm. 



503 



getting into it themselves. This done, they meant to desert 
the wreck and make for the shore. Of all the landsmen on 
board, only one had penetration to divine the scheme. Paul 
had gone through a good deal of maritime experience ; and 
as he had skill to perceive the plot, he possessed the coolness 
and presence of mind necessary to crush it. Not a word of 
objuration to the faithless seamen ; only a quick whisper in 
the centurion's ear, and the thing was done. In a moment 
the soldiers clustered round the boat, cut with their swords 
the slings in which it hung, and allowed it to drop into the 
sea. Thus the skilled seamen were compelled to make com- 
mon cause with the passengers to save their own lives. Thus 
the safety of all was secured : for if the sailors had left the 
ship, the soldiers could not have executed the manoeuvre 
necessary to beach her in a place of safety at the dawn. 

It may, perhaps, be useful to interpose here a note on the 
relation between the Divine decree and the free agency of 
men. Already Paul had announced, on the authority of a 
Divine revelation, that the lives of all on board would cer- 
tainly be saved ; yet he now says : " Except these abide in 
the ship, ye cannot be saved." Some very learned persons 
have gravely pointed to these circumstances as a refutation 
of the doctrines regarding the purposes of God — commonly 
called " Calvinistic." But Calvin was not such a fool as to 
believe that the Divine prescience precluded human freedom. 
There is a difficulty, but it is not greater than might have 
been expected to occur at the point where man's finite under- 
standing touches the purposes of the Infinite. The difficulty, 
moreover, is not less for those who oppose Calvin's view than 
for those who espouse it. In this case, for example, it was 
clearly declared to be the purpose of God that all these lives 
should be saved in the shipwreck. Now, was that declara- 
tion true at the moment it was made, or not true ? If you 



504 



The Church in the House, 



say it was not true, you dishonour the Scripture ; if it was 
true, then the means necessary to accomplish the promise 
must be taken. There is no liberty to omit them. The men 
acted freely, swayed by ordinary natural motives ; but God 
acted sovereignly, employing the free-will as well as the 
power and skill of men to fulfil his purpose. There is no 
contradiction between the sovereignty of God and the liberty 
of man. There is a deep here which no human intellect can 
fathom ; and it is easy, both on the one side and on the 
other, to shut up an opponent into a corner. But a more 
excellent way is to reverence the Divine omniscience, and 
humbly address ourselves to all revealed duty, counting 
that what they know not now, all the redeemed of the Lord 
shall know hereafter. 



CI. 

ALL SAVED. 

" And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, 
This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting, 
having taken nothing. Wherefore, I pray you to take some meat, for this 
is for your health : for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of 
you," etc.— Acts xxvii. 33-44 ; xxvni. 1-10. 

WE have seen how Paul comprehended the design of the 
sailors and defeated it. His experience in former 
shipwrecks had not been thrown away upon him ; and 
although these earlier dangers are not recorded, as not being, 
like this one, a great crisis for the kingdom, the lessons which 
they taught come in with effect precisely where they are 
needed. A word from Paul to the centurion, and a word 
from the centurion to his men, and in a moment two or three 
short broadswords flashed from their scabbards, the ropes by 



All Saved. 



505 



which the boat was suspended were snapped asunder, and 
the boat fell with a splash into the sea. It would drift away 
unseen among the rocks, and be dashed to pieces. The sailors, 
having now no means of going ashore, were obliged to abide 
by the ship ; and by their skill in the morning all were 
saved. 

As day began to break, when they could see each other, 
but could not discern the land, at Paul's suggestion food 
was distributed, and the men were cheered by the hope of 
deliverance. At that meal, with a miscellaneous multitude 
numbering two hundred and seventy-six, consisting of Chris- 
tians, Jews, and heathens of various name and nation, the 
voice of the apostle was lifted up above the noise of wind, 
and waves, giving cheerful thanks to God for his goodness. 
The ascendency of the Christian missionary at that anxious 
hour was an honour to the gospel which he preached, and 
would probably contribute to commend his message to many 
who witnessed it. The example of one courageous man was 
infectious : " Then were they all of good cheer, and they also 
took some meat." 

At this crisis the seamen further lightened the ship by 
throwing cargo overboard; not only to prevent her from 
sinking, but to diminish her draught, and so enable her to 
run higher on the beach. When the day dawned, the sailors 
keenly scanned the unknown shore, and discovering a small 
opening in the girdle of rocks, with a shelving and probably 
a sandy beach, they determined if possible to run the ship 
aground there. 

Three operations, successively narrated but simultaneously 
performed, combined and conspired to the success of the plan. 
1. They cut off the anchors, for there was not time to heave 
them up. 2. They loosed the rudder-bands. The steering 
apparatus of an ancient ship was not like our modern helm. 



506 The Church in the House. 

It consisted of two large, long, loose oars, both at the stern, 
one on either side of the keel. The ship's bulwarks were 
perforated on the two quarters for these two great projecting 
paddles. Now, whenever these oars were out of use, they 
were raised out of the water, and lashed with ropes to the 
ship's sides. It was necessary, the moment that the anchor 
cables were cut, to let down the rudders in order to direct 
the course of the ship. 3. They hoisted a foresail to give 
the ship more way, and so enable them to steer into the 
creek. In all this the presence of experienced seamen was 
necessary. The soldiers could not have handled the ship in 
this fashion ; and, if the sailors had escaped during the night, 
the ship would have been wrecked on the breakers. 

The scheme was successfully accomplished. The place 
where two seas met was probably the narrow channel between 
the mainland and a small island that lies in the bay close 
in-shore. Mr. Smith found the shore to consist of mud, 
fading away into clay. Striking there, the ship's bow was 
immediately wedged into the solid, while the hinder part, 
still floating, was broken off by the violence of the waves. 

In accordance with the cruel and reckless habits of w r ar, 
the soldiers proposed a wholesale slaughter of the prisoners, 
lest any of them should escape ; and even the centurion 
Julius, although he succeeded in diverting them from their 
purpose, did not base his request on grounds of humanity 
and justice. The measure was exceptional in order to pre- 
serve the life of Paul. We are left to understand that if the 
apostle had not been there, an object of interest and grati- 
tude to the whole company, no serious opposition would 
have been made to the cruel precaution of the soldiers. 
Such is heathenism, and such is war. 

After the skilful manner in which the ship was beached, 
the escape of all on board was easy and natural. As soon 



i 



All Saved. 



507 



as they reached the land, they learned from the natives that 
the name of the island was Melita — beyond all reasonable 
doubt the Malta which has occupied a prominent place in 
mediaeval and modern history, and remains at this day 
politically one of the most important possessions of the 
British crown. 

The natives, styled barbarians, as speaking a language not 
understood by either Greeks or Eomans, exerted themselves 
to alleviate the sufferings of the passengers and crew. The 
people would be familiar with merchant ships passing and 
repassing between Italy and Egypt. As the rain was falling 
in torrents after the hurricane had spent itself, a fire was 
kindled on the spot. As the shipwrecked men gathered 
round the fire, cold and wet in the grey dawn of that wintry 
morning, each, as he saw opportunity, cast in some sticks to 
feed the flame. Paul himself, ever thoughtful and active in 
things small or great, gathered also a handful of fuel and 
threw it on the fire. Forthwith a viper glided out and 
fastened on his naked hand. Evidently the reptile had been 
coiled up among the branches as they lay on the ground ; 
and naturally it made its way out as soon as it felt the heat. 
The barbarians entertained some notions of natural religion, 
which were in the main sound, although in practice wrongly 
applied. They had an idea that sin will find the sinner out, 
although there may be apparent impunity for a time. They 
thought the bite of the viper was fatal, and that the death of 
a man who was saved from shipwreck was a notable example 
of sure though tardy justice in the administration of the 
world. They imagined that in this case the punishment 
proved the guilt. 

Paul shook off the viper, and experienced no harm. In 
this and many other similar cases there is not specific infor- 
1 mation whether the immunity was due to natural or super- 



508 The Church in the House. 

natural causes. But on either supposition alike, Paul's life 
was preserved by the care of our Father in heaven. The 
natives now changed their minds and gravitated to the 
opposite extreme. Him whom they had considered a mur- 
derer overtaken by vengeance, they will now revere as a 
deity. Such is the genius of heathenism. "When it comes 
to any strait, such as a swollen Jordan, it cries, Where is 
Elijah my God ? but true faith, in extremities, calls confid- 
ingly on the " Lord God of Elijah." 

I suppose Paul shrunk with loathing and horror from the 
reptile, when he saw and felt it creeping on his naked hand. 
I think he did not cast it coolly and gently away : he would 
shake the loathsome creature passionately from his flesh, lest 
it should plant its poison in his blood. Oh for such a 
loathing of sin in our members, and such rapid energy in 
casting it away ! If there were such grace in our hearts as 
would shrink spiritually from the old serpent as quickly and 
strongly as the natural instincts shrink from the material 
sting, we should tread the path of life in safety, compassed 
with the Divine favour as with a shield. 



CII. 



THE MEETING. 

" And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered 
in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux," etc.— Acts xxviii. 11-15. 

THE governor of the island resided near the spot. Valetta, 
the best harbour, and the only town in modern times, 
is near St. Paul's Bay. The island was subject to the Eomans, 
but little attention was paid to it. Erom the fact that the 



The Meeting, 509 



governor's father was living, and in a private position, it is 
evident that the chieftianship was not hereditary. The cure 
performed afforded the missionary a lever for the prosecution 
of his work. It gave authority to his word among the 
people. 

After a delay of three months — that is, when the winter 
was past, and the spring approaching — the party put to sea 
again in a ship of Alexandria that had wintered in the 
island. Castor and Pollux, a pair of hrothers that hold a 
prominent place in Greek mythology, and were recognised 
as the tutelary deities of seafaring men, constituted the 
figure-head of the ship, and by their name she was known. 
The fact that this vessel, trading between Alexandria and 
Puteoli, on the western coast of Italy, passed the winter in 
Melita, is clear proof that it was not Meleda in the Gulf of 
Venice ; for that island is very far out of the route. More- 
over, this ship, in her voyage from Melita to Puteoli, while 
the weather was fair, and nothing occurred to carry her out 
of her course, called at Syracuse by the way. This was per- 
fectly natural and easy for a ship that sailed from Malta, 
but enormously out of a ship's course from Meleda. These 
circumstances, added to the positive evidence already given, 
remove all reasonable doubt as to the locality of the ship- 
wreck. 

Syracuse was in those times the great seaport of Sicily. 
It was by far the most renowned of those cities that were 
founded by Greek emigrants on the western coasts of Europe. 
I It occupied an important position in the dreadful struggles 
between the several republics of Greece, and also in the inter- 
1 necine quarrel between Eome and Carthage. Perhaps no 
I ancient city is so conspicuous in history for the sieges that 
1 it has undergone. There is a tradition that the Church at 
0 Syracuse was founded by Paul in person ; and it is probable 



510 The Church in the House. 

that Julius on this occasion permitted him to go ashore 
preach. 

From Syracuse the Castor and Pollux fetched a compass, 
and came to Ehegium. This place is on the Italian shore, 
in the straits which separate Sicily from the continent. It 
was about the same place that Garibaldi landed a few years 
ago with his volunteers after he had subjugated Sicily. In 
many respects this was the most remarkable revolution of 
modern times. That extraordinary man, with a handful of 
followers, drove the Neapolitan monarch from his throne and 
kingdom, delivering a fair country from the double tyranny 
of priest and king, and introducing Italy into the community 
of nations. 

It is intimated that in order to make Ehegium "they 
fetched a compass." This may mean, either that the wind 
blew from the west, and they were obliged to run out to sea 
eastward for a time, in order to catch the breeze ; or that 
the wind was more directly contrary, and it was necessary to 
beat up against it. After a halt there of a single day the 
wind became fair, and they reached Puteoli on the following 
day, having run a distance of one hundred and eighty miles. 
On the northern side of the great Bay of Naples, and not far 
from each other, lay Puteoli, the great mercantile seaport of 
Eome, and Baise, the favourite watering-place of her luxurious 
citizens. 

As soon as he landed, Paul found " brothers." The family 
is multiplying and spreading through the empire. The fire 
of this Christian life is going, like the lightning, against the 
wind : although the sect is everywhere spoken against and 
persecuted, yet the sect is increasing, like the breaking forth 
of waters. The seven days' delay at Puteoli is a Christian 
and not a Eoman measurement. It points on the one hand 
to the weekly Sabbath, and on the other to the confirmed 



The Meeting. 



ascendency of Paul over all the arrangements of the journey. 
Julius seems by this time to have fallen into the habit of 
shaping his course by the advice of his prisoner. 

" So we went to Koine," along the much celebrated and 
frequented Appian Way, from the seaport to the capital. 
The brothers at Puteoli must have sent express to Eome to 
advise their fellow-disciples of Paul's arrival, and a deputa- 
tion had started from the city to meet and welcome the 
distinguished visitor. For the Christians at Eome, the 
arrival of Paul was a great event. He had been longing for 
them, and they for him. At last the great object of his life 
was almost within his grasp ; and they — what a thrill of 
joyful expectancy must have run through their circle when 
the news first reached them that the Castor and Pollux of 
Alexandria, last from Malta, had actually arrived with the 
Apostle of the Gentiles on board ! Then circular messages 
went round : all must meet this evening, perhaps in the 
house of Aquila. At the meeting many eager inquiries 
would pass — those who had never seen the great missionary 
would again demand of those who had seen him what his 
appearance was, and wherein his power seemed to lie. 

They must send a large deputation forward to meet 
him. They will stretch out their arms far to embrace the 
approaching ambassador of their heavenly King. They will 
give him a royal welcome. All who are able-bodied will go ; 
none are willing to be left behind. Some seem to have 
started who were hardly fit for the journey ; for they halted 
at Three Taverns, a distance of seventeen miles from the 
city, while those who were more vigorous pushed on as far 
J as Appii Forum, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The 
i apostle and , his company are meantime pursuing their 
f journey northward along the Appian Way. For the last 
[ nineteen miles a canal ran alongside of the highway, partly 



5 1 2 The Church in the House. 

for the drainage of the marshes, and partly for the purposes 
of navigation. Appii Forum was the terminus of the canal 
on the north, and nearest the city. It was a rough place, 
swarming with low tavern-keepers and bargemen. At that 
spot the front rank of the deputation from Home met Paul 
and his companions. At that place, rude, and even disreput- , 
able among the towns of Italy, the two ends of the coil were j 
joined, and Jerusalem brought into connection with Eome. 
Then and there the spirit of the kingdom passed out of 
Jerusalem and entered into Eome. Henceforth the gospel, 
withdrawn from the Jews, has its seat in the heart of the \ 
Gentile world. 

The body of Christ, crucified at Jerusalem, was laid in the 
grave, dead. Christ himself rose from the grave and ascended 
into heaven. No longer was he sent exclusively to Israel. 
His resurrection was life to the world. The apostolate, 
sent out after the Lord's ascension, was the resurrection 
for the Gentiles. Now Christ has come to the world's I 
great head, and Paul is the vessel chosen and used to bear 
him thither. 

As Peter and John started in company, with equal love, 
to see the place where the Lord lay, that they might be 
witnesses of his resurrection, but separated on the road, the 
younger and nimbler runner coming first to the empty grave ; 
so, in Italy that day, those who set out together to witness 
the kingdom of God risen from its ruin in Jerusalem, and 
approaching Eome in the power of a new life, separated into 
two bands. One portion outran the other, and first reached 
the meeting-place. But the feebler, who remained behind, 
met the apostle too, and received the Christ whom he bore. 
Not only so, but those who remained at home in the city 
obtained in due time a full portion of the spoil. According 
to the desires of your loving heart it will be given to you, 



Gratitude and Fortitude. 



513 



not according to the strength of your muscles and the fleet- 
ness of your feet. Seek, and ye shall find. In the matters 
of the kingdom a man is accepted, not according to what he 
hath not, but according to what he hath. 



"And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as 
Appii Forum, and The Three Taverns : whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, 
and took courage. And when he came to Rome, the centurion delivered the 
prisoners to the captain of the guard : but Paul was suffered to dwell by 
himself with a soldier that kept him."— Acts xxviii. 15, 16. 



SPECIAL note is taken of the effect produced by the 



XA_ meeting on Paul's own mind. When he saw the 
brethren, he " thanked God, and took courage." This is a 
pregnant example for us : this short sentence is full of 
practical wisdom. This faith that Paul possessed is better 
than the mysterious stone that turns whatever it touches into 
gold. From the point of the present he looks backward and 
forward. All the past of his life he seems to count only a 
preparation ; his work lies still before him. It is a beautiful 
character that is displayed here in two great hemispheres : 
for the past it is devout gratitude; for the future, filial 
confidence. 

For the past, "he thanked God." The long vista of 
memory was bright with blessings. God's mercies had been 
"waters that fail not," a continual stream. No summer 
drought had ever dried it ; no winter cold had ever frozen 
it. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. 

Yet the path of life was not all smooth for this man, 



cm. 



GRATITUDE AND FORTITUDE. 




2 K 



5H 



The Church in the House. 



either "before or behind. He had been exposed to great 
danger and severe suffering; but he had been carried 
through. He will sing of mercy and judgment. A man's 
cheerfulness and contentment depend not so much on the 
measure of prosperity, as on the condition of mind that he 
has attained. Some people never see the time and occasion 
for cheerful thanksgiving ; and some never see the time when 
praise is out of place. One man can never see the end of 
his troubles, and therefore he is always grumbling ; another 
man can never number up all his mercies, and therefore he 
is always ready with a song. "In everything, by prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be 
made known unto God." 

It is worthy of remark here, that while the storm was at 
its height and no relief yet in view, Paul found opportunity 
to give thanks aloud in behalf of all the ship's company for 
a morsel of food. When he could not stand upright on deck 
on account of the rolling of the wreck, he grasped the mast 
in one hand to keep himself from falling, and lifted the other 
up to heaven in token of exultant gratitude to God for daily 
bread. And here, when the prospect is somewhat brighter, 
on the dry land, and in presence of his brethren, he gave 
way again to the ruling passion, — Praise the Lord for his 
goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. 
It is evident that his heart was habitually full, and therefore 
overflowed on every emerging opportunity. It is not the 
fulness of the basket, but the fulness of the heart, that makes 
the grateful man. 

For the future, " he took courage." Mark well what this 
true, bold man " took" at Appii Forum by the sight of fellow- 
disciples : it was not comfort, but courage. He was made 
glad, not by an expectation that henceforth he should have 
no battle to fight, but by a resolution to fight and win. The 



Gratitude and Fortitude. 5 1 5 



distinction between these two states of mind is practically 
of great importance. In some of their aspects they are like 
each other ; and therefore there is greater risk of taking the 
spurious for the genuine. The element of cheerfulness is 
common to both. The one is selfishly cheerful, in the 
prospect of ignoble ease ; the other is patriotically cheerful, 
in the prospect of successful labour. Comfort does not look 
forward at all, but says, Aha, I am warm ; makes a soft nest, 
and lies down to sleep : Despondency looks forward, indeed, 
but sees a lion on the path, and lies down to weep : Courage 
looks forward, and sees the lion too, but believes him 
vincible, and girds itself for the combat. Courage, in the 
person of Luther, would go forward to bear testimony for 
Christ, although every tile on the roofs of Worms were a 
devil. This is the true Christian spirit, — the spirit of Paul 
and of Luther. Comfort seeks ease by declining the combat ; 
Courage expects progress through victory. This, under the 
name of Virtue, is precisely the quality which Peter exhorts 
good soldiers of Jesus Christ to add to their faith. In ancient 
times, and in human affairs, it ranked highest, and was 
understood to include within itself all the virtues. In the 
kingdom of God also it is set in a high place, and valued at 
a great price. 

The Christian course is compared to a warfare, and to a 
merchandise. Both soldiers and merchants fondly cherish 
the hope of retiring. In the toils of war and of traffic, the 
prospect of rest becomes a sort of pole-star dimly shining on 
the low, far-off horizon. But it seldom becomes anything 
more than a shadow. It is as beautiful as the rainbow, and 
as hard to grasp. In old age it is ordinarily as far off as 
ever. Men have supported themselves in a life-long labour 
by the hope of a rich and honourable retreat; and the 
retreat, when they reached it, has proved more insupportable 



5i6 



The Church in the House. 



than the labour. From the Christian's warfare there is no 
release in this world; he must die in harness. Nor does 
he count this condition hard. He knows that earnest effort 
contributes more to happiness and health than useless rest. 
Paul knew, indeed, of an honourable retirement ; but it lay 
beyond the grave. " A rest remaineth for the people of God." 
Christians do not rest in their labours; but one day they 
shall rest from them. Their works too shall follow them ; 
— activity, effort, result, will continue in a better world, — 
but all the weariness will be left behind. 

It is better to have courage to face difficulties, than to 
have no difficulties to face : the one is a leaping, sparkling 
river ; the other is a stagnant pool. 

At present there is much need of courage. The enemy 
cometh in like a flood. It is a motley host. Vice in the 
masses at the bottom of the scale : vice in the flutterers 
floating on the top. From the press printed sheets fall like 
snow-flakes, — some covertly endeavouring to undermine all 
faith, and some pandering to mere vulgar vice. Pleasure 
and worldliness invade the Christian circle, and deluge it : 
and at such a time not a few are found wasting the 
energy that should be devoted to the help of the Lord 
against the mighty in contending for pin-points or chasing 
shadows ! 

Eome was at that time an immense city. It contained 
a population of two millions, of whom one half were 
slaves. A few thousands of an aristocracy monopolised 
the wealth and power: the remainder of the freemen 
were very poor. Multitudes of them had no shelter at 
night but the streets, and porticoes of temples. They 
counted themselves above labour. Their lot was pride 
and poverty. This, in our own day, was precisely the 
condition of the white population in the Southern States 



Gratitude and Fortitude. 



517 



of North America who were not proprietors, before the 
emancipation of the slaves. Such seems the uniform 
effect of slavery. It makes the condition of citizens who 
do not own property most wretched. The presence of 
slavery renders labour a disgrace ; and when the poor 
do not toil, they become a burden to themselves and the 
community. 

When the prisoners were handed over to the captain of 
the guard — at the time a man named Burrus — he immedi- 
ately conceded to Paul an exceptional measure of liberty. 
This was no doubt due in part to the favourable report sent 
by Felix, and in part to the fervent friendship of the cen- 
turion Julius, who had conducted the prisoner from Ceesarea 
to Eome. As much freedom was allowed to Paul as was con- 
sistent with the stern military code of the empire. Instead 
of being confined with a crowd of evil-doers in the pretorian 
barracks, he was permitted to go where he pleased in the 
custody of a soldier. Night and day, however, he was 
chained by the arm to his keeper. It is amazing that 
Paul speaks so cheerfully about his condition in Eome. 
The single circumstance that he was not prevented from 
preaching Christ seems to have outweighed in his esteem 
all the restraints otherwise imposed upon his liberty. In 
this one liberty he exults, and seems almost to forget that 
he is a prisoner. 

During these two years, the guard was often shifted. 
Night and morning the military machine moved round, 
and the man who had fulfilled his term of duty was relieved 
by a fresh guard. But while the guards came and went, 
the prisoner remained the same. There would, doubtless, 
be degrees of evil. Some soldiers who took their turn 
would be ruder, some more gentle ; but bad was the 
best, when this man, refined at first by all the culture 



5i8 



The Church in the House. 



of the day, and purified afterwards by having Christ formed 
in him at the regeneration, was compelled to have a 
chance soldier of the pretorian guards chained to his 
body night and day for two years. It was a grievous 
bondage ! but the prisoner did not complain. He had 
learned to count these troubles light by balancing them 
in the scale against an exceeding great weight of glory; 
he had learned to look on the troubles as of but a moment's 
duration by contrasting them with an everlasting rest. 
Paul has not yet forgotten that iron chain, or those rude 
Eoman men to whom it bound him. The sufferings have 
already, in eighteen hundred years of heaven, repaid 
themselves many times over, in the enhancement of his 
joy which the memory of them supplies. Softer chains now 
bind him to better company. Nothing shall separate him 
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 



CIV. 

PAUL IN EOME. 

" And it came to pass, that after three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews 
together. And when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and 
brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs 
of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of 
the Romans," etc. — Acts xxvni. 17-22. 

THEKE were strong emotions on both sides when Paul 
and the Eoman Christians met at Appii Eorum. The 
faith and fervour manifested on his part sprang from 
another meeting that happened long before, as the fruit 
springs from seed. Many years before this event, Paul 
the young was approaching a great Eastern city with a 
commission of high import, his heart earnest to fulfil it, as 



Patd in Rome. 



5*9 



Paul the aged now approached the great capital of the 
West. Then, too, as on this occasion, the dangling of 
chains might be heard as the procession marched. Then 
and there, however, Saul, the chief commissioner, did not 
wear them; they were borne in his train, and employed 
at his pleasure. Here, the chains are hanging on his own 
arms. Then, as now, he was met before he reached the 
city. Met him then, not Christians, but Christ. Not 
to embrace as brothers those two met ; they met as foes 
meet on the battle-field. Christ was revealed from heaven 
the King of Glory, and the apostle of the high priest 
fell to the ground. The stony heart of the Pharisaic 
persecutor melted, and took on a new moulding. He be- 
came a new creature. The old man was put off, and the 
new put on. 

That meeting with Christ on the way to Damascus was 
the root of this meeting with Christians on the way to 
Eome. From the sorrow of the first meeting sprang the joy 
of the second. Meetings with Christians will be cold and 
superficial, if we have not so met with Christ. We shall 
get little cheering from the light of a brother's countenance, 
if we have not previously been melted and remoulded by 
the Light of Life. When Christ is yours, all things are 
yours ; and the fervent love of fellow-disciples is an item in 
the vast inventory. 

There must have been a liberal collection made among 
the Christians in Eome for the supply of the apostle's 
wants, for we learn that he dwelt two whole years in his 
own hired house. The rent of a house in the capital large 
enough to receive for conference all the leading Jews in 
Eome must have amounted to a considerable sum. Those 
who contributed to pay it would consider it a missionary 
contribution, and enter it in their books as " lent to the Lord." 



I 



520 The Chitrch in the House. 

There must have been a quick, spontaneous liberality in 
those days among the disciples of Jesus ; and Paul, though 
he lived in poverty, had large resources at command for the 
work of the kingdom. Witness the sale of property at 
Jerusalem in the beginning of the gospel. It must have 
been a broad, deep, rapid stream of holy beneficence that 
flowed through the city, when it had power enough to float 
two such heavy hulks of hypocrisy as Ananias and Sapphira. 
Witness too, at a later date, the expectations of the keen- 
■scented mercenary, Felix, who conferred frequently with 
Paul the prisoner, in the hope of getting a bribe for setting 
him free. Felix was well aware of two things : first, that 
Paul his prisoner had not a penny; but second, that by 
raising his finger, the missionary could draw on the purses 
of many substantial citizens for any object which he might 
have at heart. 

It is worthy of remark that Paul at Eome, when near 
the end of his course, still maintained faithfully his original 
rule of addressing himself first to the Jews. Let his believ- 
ing brethren wait awhile ; they can afford to bide their time. 
On their way to the city, it is probable that he made his 
arrangements in concert with the deputation. He would 
explain to them his principle and his practice, — first to the 
seed of Israel. If he had gone first to the Christians, the 
Jews might have taken offence. He will be all things yet 
to these men, that he may gain some of them. 

When the leading Jews were assembled to hear his 
explanation, his discourse, as usual, was personal and 
apologetic. He endeavours at the outset to remove prepos- 
sessions which might hinder the reception of his message. 
First of all, he zealously claims kindred with them. By 
his appeal to the emperor against the Sanhedrim, they 
might have been led to suppose that he was dragging the 



Paul in Rome. 



52i 



sacred authorities of the chosen nation before the tribunal 
of a heathen power. With eagerness he clears himself 
of that charge, and makes it plain that his appeal was taken 
simply to save his life, when his enemies had plotted to 
take it away. 

The name of Christ borne by the chosen vessel has now 
been brought to Eome. It had passed from Jerusalem 
through J udsea and Samaria ; and now it had reached 
those seven hills, which, politically, were the loftiest 
pinnacle of the earth, and from which it might be carried 
by the natural channels to the whole circle of subject 
nations. "Wonderful were the ways of God in reaching 
this result. The imperial legions must furnish an escort, 
and the imperial exchequer must pay the passage. Even 
to the stormy waves of the Mediterranean the word of the 
Lord had come in power ; — Touch not my prophet, and do 
mine anointed no harm. Destroy not this frail vessel, for 
it bears a blessing to the western world. 

Those who publish maps to illustrate the propagation of 
the gospel in early times, mark Paul's route by a red line. 
In that line there are many bendings and backward turns. 
It is drawn zig-zag, as lightning from the clouds is repre- 
sented ; but with all its turns, it ever turns aright, — west- 
ward ever, to bear the gospel to the nations of the future. 
In a similar way the course of the electric wire from con- 
tinent to continent across the ocean is sometimes designated 
on the map. If the course of the line lately laid between 
France and America were so represented on the chart, it 
would be like the line that marks Paul's voyage. There 
was a halt in mid-ocean : the cable suddenly became dumb, 
and could not tell the cause of its own silence. Communi- 
cation with the shore ceased for several days ; and when it 
was resumed we learned the cause of the interruption. A 



522 



The Church in the House. 



gale sprang up ; the operators feared lest in the heavy sea 
the cable should part. They cut and buoyed it. Then they 
trimmed the ship to ride out the storm. When the storm 
was over, they sought and found the buoy ; caught the cable, 
spliced it, and went on as before. Suppose for a moment 
that the populations of the American continent had all 
previously been entirely destitute of the gospel, and that 
this submerged conductor was the only channel by which 
they could hope to receive it : in that case a thrilling 
interest would attach to the incident, — to the storm and the 
severance of the wire, and the skill of the operators in 
healing the breach. That spot was the Malta of the modern 
mission voyage. 

The line that the ship of Adramyttium made on the 
eastern waters of the Mediterranean, and that which the 
Castor and Pollux made from Malta to Puteoli, faded away 
a few yards behind the keels ; but a line unseen was paid 
out in that voyage through which throbbed life from the 
dead to the western world. How much depended on the 
voyage of one mortal man across those wintry waters ! The 
Lord had need of him, and therefore the Euroclydon could 
not swallow him up. 



"And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his 
lodging ; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, per- 
suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the 
Prophets, from morning till evening," etc. — Acts xxviii. 23-31. 



T a preliminary meeting of the Jewish chiefs, three 



±\. days after his arrival, Paul anxiously explained that 
he brought no accusation against his country or his people. 



CV. 



CLOSING GLIMPSES. 




Closing Glimpses. 523 

They seem to have been much impressed by his statement, 
and especially by his declaration, " For the hope of Israel I 
am bound with these chains." This makes him one with 
themselves ; instead of plotting against them, this man 
suffers on their side. They desire to hear a fuller explana- 
tion of his position ; especially how he reconciles his con- 
tinued hold of " the hope of Israel," with his attachment to 
the sect which is everywhere spoken against. By mutual 
consent another day is fixed ; and at the appointed time the 
same parties return with many others in their company. 

A whole day was spent in the discussion. The conference 
would probably, for the most part, assume the form of con- 
versation. Questions would be asked and answered ; objec- 
tions stated and removed. The Scriptures of the Old 
Testament constituted the acknowledged authority for the 
disputants on both sides alike. The venerated parchments 
lay on the table, and were from time to time spread out to 
correct and verify a quotation. The substance of all that 
Paul said at the prolonged conference is reported in one 
verse : " He expounded and testified the kingdom of God, 
persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of 
Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening." 
This is a remarkable epitome. It contains the whole case 
in a very small compass. It is somewhat like the condensed 
report of Philip's sermon to the Ethiopian prince, " beginning 
from that same Scripture, he preached unto him Jesus." 

By comparing Scripture with Scripture, Paul expounded 
to these inquirers that the kingdom of the future, predicted 
by the prophets, is not limited to one nation, but co-exten- 
sive with the world ; that if it be limited for a time, it is 
limited like a seed, only until the set time come for its 
indefinite multiplication and expansion. He showed them 
that the King, though universal Lord, yet suffers and dies, — 



524 The Church in the House. 



gives his life a ransom ; — that his kingdom is not of this 
world ; that he is King of thoughts, not of armies ; that he 
wins by love — by enduring. He showed them that in 
Jesus of Nazareth all the conditions of the expected Messiah 
were fulfilled : he employed the law to shut them up unto 
the gospel. 

Some were won. The labourer obtained souls for his 
hire after that long day's work. At night, and immediately 
before the company separated, Paul addressed a very solemn 
warning from the Prophecy of Isaiah to the unbelieving 
portion of the audience. He felt that this was the crisis of 
their fate, and yearned for their salvation. Throwing upon 
themselves the responsibility of rejecting Christ promised in 
their own Scriptures, and now pressed on their acceptance, 
he proclaimed that moving of the door which permitted the 
light to flow on the Gentiles, and at the same time left the 
Jews shut up in the darkness which they had chosen. After 
they had left the conference, it is intimated that these J ews 
" had great reasoning among themselves." We may be per- 
mitted to hope that another section of these grave and sad 
children of Abraham, as the result of that reasoning, were 
shut up unto the faith. 

This last testimony uttered by the apostle throws light on 
the structure and design of the Book of the Acts. The 
history is designed to exhibit the transition of the kingdom 
from Israel as a nation to the whole human family. When 
this transference has been completed, the historian's work 
is done. Here, accordingly, the record abruptly closes. The 
final note, as in other melodies, is the key-note : Christ, 
rejected by Israel, to whom he came, is offered to the 
Gentiles. Henceforth all distinctions are levelled except 
one : the distinction between those who believe, and those 
who believe not, in the only begotten Son of God. There is 



Closing Glimpses. 



525 



now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, 
whether they be Jews or Greeks, bond or free. The 
kingdom consists of all, out of every nation and kindred and 
tongue, who have washed their robes, and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb. One man is not rejected because 
he is a descendant of Canaan, and another is not accepted 
because he is of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh ; 
but whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, the same 
shall be saved. 

After these events Paul dwelt two years in his own hired 
house, receiving all comers, and preaching the gospel in all 
its fulness to every class, and with complete impunity. The 
foundations of the Church at Eome were during these two 
years laid deep and broad. Alas ! huge piles of wood, hay, 
stubble, have been reared upon the true foundation there 
throughout the long usurpation of the Papacy. There must 
be much fierce burning ere all that rubbish be consumed, 
and the primitive Church come forth in apostolic purity and 
power. Let one read the Epistle to the Eomans and the 
latest encyclical of the present Pontiff at the same sitting, 
and he will experience the sensation of passing from the 
green grass and blue sky and bright sunshine of a summer 
day among the mountains, into a dark cavern where the air 
cannot get in, and the smoke cannot get out. If a Eoman 
citizen of this nineteenth century, who loyally accepts the 
Pope and his infallibility, should be led to read the Book of 
the Acts, and Paul's Epistle to the Church of his forefathers, 
he would necessarily think these two books of sacred Scrip- 
ture spurious, for they say nothing of the Virgin Mary or 
the saints, nothing of images and relics, nothing of penance 
and purgatory. 

"While Paul was a prisoner at Eome, Nero was emperor 
there. Not only was he a cruel and unjust ruler, but his 



526 



The Church in the House. 



very name has become a proverb for vice in all its vilest 
forms and extremest measures. The whole power of the 
civilised world was wielded by that incarnation of wicked- 
ness. Yet although this monster shed the blood of both his 
own wife and his own mother, it was not in his power to 
pervert all the acts of his administration. Even he, when 
under the influence of good counsellors, sometimes pronounced 
and executed right decisions. Some restraint was providen- 
tially laid upon the tyrant. Contemporary history gives no 
account of Paul's trial. On the first occasion he seems to 
have been acquitted. He who had delivered David from the 
lion and the bear, was able to deliver him out of the hand of 
the Philistine ; he who had delivered the missionary from the 
hands of Felix and Festus, could deliver him from Nero's 
cruelty, and shield his life until his work was done. 

Prom the later Epistles some incidents of the apostle's 
subsequent history may be gathered. These, when woven 
together, seem to intimate that, after having been tried and 
acquitted at Eome, he visited Ephesus, and thence returned 
to the capital ; that he travelled to the east yet again, and 
on his return penetrated into Spain ; and that at last he was 
arrested at Eome, and put to death about the end of Nero's 
reign. 

His residence at the capital seems to have been the most 
active and useful period of Paul's life, although it did not 
fall within the scope of the historian to comprehend it in his 
narrative. Many of his best friends were for longer or shorter 
periods at his side — Luke, his fellow-traveller, for example ; 
and Timothy, his son in the faith. 

Two men, who were for a time his coadjutors in Eome, 
stand contrasted with each other so as to read a very search- 
ing lesson for disciples in all times. Demas and Mark are 
both recognised as fellow- workers (Philem. 24 ; Col. iv. 1 4). 



Closing Glimpses. 



527 



These two men might almost have sat for the picture of the 
sons whom the father commanded to work in his vineyard. 
The one said, I go, sir, and went not ; the other said, I will 
not, but afterwards repented and went. The sad apostle's 
later testimony regarding Demas is, " He hath forsaken me, 
having loved this present world" (2 Tim. iv. 10). Whereas, 
although Mark at an early date had incurred his displeasure 
for preferring his own ease to the necessity of the work, a 
glad reconciliation was subsequently effected ; and the aged 
missionary, when almost within sight of his crown, and at 
the very time when he had occasion to record the defection 
of Demas, sent to Timothy the message : — " Take Mark, and 
bring him with thee : for he is profitable to me for the 
ministry" (2 Tim. iv. 11). 

The case of the slave Onesimus, which occurred at Rome 
during this period, can be restored from fragmentary notices, 
and is full of instruction. This man had been owned by 
Philemon, a citizen of Colosse. He robbed his master and 
ran away. The outlaw found his way to Eome, like most 
of his kind ; for in the crowded dens of the capital the best 
cover could be found by those who endeavoured to elude 
the pursuit of law. The hordes of the wretched and the 
criminal who at that time, we cannot say resided, but existed 
homeless, in the great city, cannot well be described or con- 
ceived. Modern experience, bad though it be, affords no 
parallel, at least in Christianised countries. The general 
prevalence of slavery dislocates and corrupts society to an 
extent of which we in our favoured circumstances have no 
adequate conception. Onesimus, plunged into this mass of 
misery and crime, was lost as a microscopic atom of iron is 
lost among a heap of dust ; but as such an atom so lost may 
be found by plunging a magnet into the same heap, so was 
Onesimus rescued. He heard Paul preaching Christ, and 



528 The Church in the House. 



was won. How the missionary and the outlaw came in con- 
tact, we cannot tell. Perhaps the missionary found his way 
sometimes into those quarters of the city where the baser 
sort do congregate. Perhaps the man, intelligent though 
outcast, became weary of the vile society into which his 
misfortunes and his faults had cast him ; and he may have 
ventured under cloud of night, trembling lest the officers 
should track his steps, to the place where Paul was expected 
to preach. But in some manner, to us unknown, He who 
procured a meeting between Philip and the Ethiopian in the 
desert, procured a meeting between the apostle of the Gentiles 
and the runaway slave in the metropolis of the world. The 
poor shivering outcast heard of the Man that " receiveth sin- 
ners " — heard, and believed, and lived. 

Paul found in this man, when he was made new, a special 
aptitude for missionary work, and determined to employ him. 
But Onesimus is not yet free to begin. He is willing to lay 
himself now on the altar as a living sacrifice ; but he must 
pause — he must leave his gift before the altar, and go first 
and be reconciled to his brother Philemon. Under Paul's 
instructions he returned to his former master and gave him- 
self up, confident all the while that Philemon, himself 
ransomed by the same Lord that had redeemed his slave, 
would not any more exact his legal rights. The episode of 
Onesimus and Philemon, with its combined godliness and 
manliness, its devotion to God and noble charity between man 
and man, shines amid the atheism and vice of heathen Eome 
like a lightning flash in the noon of night. " Again, a new 
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." 

f /u RD-10? 

PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY, 
AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



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